Together
by JemGirl77
Summary: A yaoi story that got hijacked. The main players in this story are Inuyasha, Miroku, Kagome, Sesshomaru, Sango, Kouga, Shippo, Rin, and there are a few OC's.
1. Chapter 1

Welcome to my novel.

"This is a yaoi story that got hijacked."

There are three pairings in this story. But the main and real couple of this story is Inuyasha & Miroku, despite what you read.

I own nothing but my own 'sick little' ideas. I could not come up with something like a 15 year old girl going down a well and ending up 500 years in the past and actually finding demons and spells to be part of everyday life. She was able to leave and go back to her own time but stuck around to cause more issues.

Enjoy

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Chapter 1

"Inuyasha!" I shouted as I passed by a tree and walked through two bushes that blocked me from seeing the river that I had heard. As I moved the last branch from my view, I saw him tuck something under the log that was behind his back. _A secret. _Were the words that crossed my mind.

"Kagome is calling you," I continued.

"What for?" he asked me from his sitting position. He wasn't looking at me, but across the river with his arms crossed.

"She wants you to walk her to the well, or have you forgotten already that she was leaving today?" I asked him as I stood looking at him.

"Feh. Where is she now?" he asked as he stood up and dusted himself off. I was about to tell him when he walked past me and cut me off by saying. "Don't bother. She's not so hard to find." A few moments later I heard him breaking though the top of the trees to my left.

I turned my attention back to the log. _Should I see what it is? How important could it be? Important enough for him to hide it from me. That's how important it is. What could it be?_ I asked myself as I stepped closer to it. _How badly would he beat me up if I took a look?_ I asked myself as I kicked it. The log rolled over and I saw some pages before it rolled back in place.

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_Did he see?_ I asked myself as I jumped away towards the village. _He was still behind the bush when I __placed it under the log._ I told myself to keep from panicking. I landed on a branch limb that was high on a tree. I could see the village from here, and Kagome's scent was coming from that direction. I jumped off again in that direction. _Please Kami, don't let him have seen me put it there._ I prayed as I hurried to meet up with Kagome.

I found her standing on the edge of the village, on the road to the Bone Eater's Well. She wasn't walking. She was just standing there waiting for me. As I came closer she didn't look mad. _Why did her eyes have to glitter?_ I asked myself as I came close enough to see them shining at me.

"Sorry I'm late Kagome," I told her as I came to a stop.

"It's alright. You aren't that late," she said while smiling up at me. I bent my head and hid as much of my face behind my bangs as I turned away from her.

"Come on. Let's go," I told her as I started to walk up the hill. We didn't talk much on the short walk to the well. _Why did I even have to walk with her?_ I asked myself for the third time as I saw the well not eighty feet away as we came to the top of the hill.

"I'll be gone six days this trip," I heard her say.

"Six days?" I said back to her as I turned to look in her direction. "Why so long?" I asked. I didn't really care that she wasn't going to be here for so long. It was that we were going to be stuck in one place until she came back.

"It's because of my tests. I have a lot of them this week. I can't come back until I've finished," she said as she started to walk ahead of me.

"You cannot be gone more than five days," I told her as I started to catch up. "I'll be waiting right here for you on the sixth day and if you aren't here come mid day I'm coming to get you," I told her as we both stopped next to the well.

"No, I won't," she said back at me. Her voice was starting to get higher. "I want to spend some time with my friends over there. I cannot spend all my time over here. I have a life there too you know!" Now she was shouting back at me. I was almost sorry that I said anything, but I can't be stuck here for almost a week with …

"And you can wait all you want. I won't be back on the sixth day. I'll be back after mid day on the seventh day," she said as she started to climb into the well. She stopped half way over and looked at me.

"Fine," I said in defeat, and she jumped down. I spent a moment thinking that I should have said things differently, but I was surprised that it was going to be that long until we could leave again. _THE LOG._ My head snapped to its direction and soon I was air born. _I hope it's still there. I hope Miroku didn't see me hide it. I hope he didn't stay. I hope he didn't find it._ These words whirled around my head as I jumped from tree to tree, from tree to grass patch, back into a tree again. As I got closer to the stream I couldn't pick up a fresh scent of Miroku. _At least he wouldn't be there._ I told myself. This calmed me more than I expected it to.

I landed in the clearing just a few paces from where Miroku had found me that morning. I walked through the same bushes and saw the log that I was sitting next to. I knelt down in front of it and placed my hand on it as I bent my head. This secret is getting hard to hide and harder to deal with. I'm going to have to do something about it.

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So how do you like my first chapter? I know it's short, but they get longer.

See ya.


	2. Chapter 2

I own nothing but my 'sick little ideas'.

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Chapter 2

I sat there looking into the dancing fire pit with my back against the wall. My mind went over what had happened that morning again.

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I saw my hand reaching out and pushing the log aside. My other hand reached out, touched and picked up the pages. They were wrapped around one of those writing things that Kagome calls a pen. It wrote with ink that was housed inside of the handle. I had already used one, so it didn't hold much of my attention. I placed it in my lap and turned my focus back to the pages. They weren't just loose pieces of paper like I first thought. The pages looked like they came from different places. A few looked like scroll paper I used for my spells, some looked like they came out of the books that Kagome wrote in and I guess he got the rest from anywhere he could. They were held together by some kind of binding that was made out of some skin strips.

I uncurled the pages and started to read what was on the first page. I told myself as I started to skim over the first few words that if it was…Miroku. The word came into my line of vision and I never finished my promise.

I saw him smiling with Sango today. We were watching Shippo play with Kirara, well, they were watching. I was trying to get a nap before I took up first watch that night. I heard him laugh and I couldn't stop myself from looking over at him. I don't know what he was looking at anymore other than it had something to do with the nekomata and Shippo. His eyes were mostly closed as he laughed, but I still saw a glint of their purple blue color. He joked with Sango while she nudged him and laughed at what he was saying. I wanted to be down there laughing with him, but I didn't move from where I was. We never joked like that, and if I went over there, they wouldn't have included me. I seem to stall everyone's good time when I show up unless I'm the source of their laughter.

From there it went on to talk about a few other things, normal things. I was about stop reading when my name came back up again and I continued to read.

Miroku sat with his back to one of the large boulders that made up part of our campsite that night. He didn't feel it. How could he not feel it? I got up from the fire and walked over towards him. I then crouched down next to him and leaned in. I reached out and flicked the tiger beetle away. If it had bitten him, he would have woken up the whole camp with his shouting and everyone needed their sleep. I didn't move away like I should have. I hadn't been this close to him in days. I inhaled the strong sent of sandalwood that was coming off of him. His face was the meaning of peace.

Something stirred him in his sleep and I froze. His eyes didn't open, but he licked his lips and turned his head towards me. I felt my face heat up and I know it turned red. He then settled back into a deeper sleep again. I was looking at those lips that he licked and I saw them become bigger and bigger. Before I knew it, I kissed him. I know it was stupid of me. It was a quick kiss and I pulled back really fast. He didn't wake up, but I felt my lips burning me as I walked back to where I was sitting before.

I didn't really do that much watching that night. My mind wouldn't end where my body did. I saw him waking up from his sleep to find me kissing him. I pretended that he started to kiss me back. By the time I was pulling his purple robes off his shoulders no one else was there. It was just the two of us in the clearing with the rocks. As his tongue started to lick down my neck I snapped out of it. I was shocked back to my senses and everything came back to me. The cold night air, the night animals scurrying yards away, the breathing of all my companions and the crackling of the fire.

I looked back over at Miroku and I started to hear my heart beat loudly in my ears. I turned away from him and tried to concentrate on anything else, everything else. I don't know how well of a job I did because I almost didn't hear Sango when she walked towards me, as it was her turn to take watch. I got up and nodded at her while she took up her post. I turned to look at the rest of the group. Where would I rest until it was time for us to leave? I asked myself. The idea of sitting next to Miroku was kicked out of my head almost as fast as it had popped in there. I jumped up into a tree that was to the left of him and settled down for the rest of the night. I still wanted to be close to him, but this was as close as I could get. I closed my eyes and in my folded arms I thought I felt his warm back pressed against me. I fell asleep with that pleasant feeling.

The book fell from my fingers then. _Inuyasha had feelings for me?_ It was a puzzling thought. There was no way I could look at him now, knowing what he wrote about me. At first I was a little ashamed that I hadn't treated him better as a friend, but this?

I got up and started to walk back and forth. _How do I deal with this? How would I keep him as a friend without breaking his heart? Do I have to do anything? Would this thing come and go on its own?_ I reached down and picked up the pen that had dropped from my lap and rolled it back up into the pages. I rolled the log back and placed them back where I got them from and quickly walked to the hot spring. I was hoping that some time alone would help me figure some things out.

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It's been hours, and I still haven't figured anything out. For now I will do nothing. Until he knows that I know, I don't have to do anything about this. _Right?_

"Miroku!" Sango shouted at me.

"Ha?" I asked as I looked up at her. _Why was she shouting at me?_

"Did you hear anything I asked you?" She huffed.

"Sorry, Sango. What is it you wish to know?" I smiled up at her.

"I was asking you if you knew where Inuyasha was. He's late for dinner and Kagome left some of those noodles that he loves," she said as she turned back to stirring what was in the pot. I believed that was for the rest of us to eat for dinner. It smelled like rabbit even though I couldn't remember seeing her clean it or add it to the pot.

"No, I do not know where our hanyou friend is. Do you want me to go find him?" I already started to get up from my spot. I dusted and fixed my robes as Sango started to reply.

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble for you," she said. Her words finished as I placed my hand around my staff. I didn't think that I would need it, but I liked hearing the ringing of the metal when I walked.

"No, why would it be trouble?" I asked just before I moved to the hut's opening. I moved the curtain aside and ducked to step outside, only to stop in mid-stride.

There was Inuyasha. He was standing in mid-stance also. We blocked each other's way. _His eyes._ I don't know if I've ever been this close to his face before. We almost ran right into each other. I wondered if he stopped first or if we both saved ourselves from a painful bump on our foreheads or even a broken nose on my part. He had such a hard head. _His eyes were so bright. Did they get brighter looking at me?_

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**Nekomata** - is a bakeneko (monster cat) that has a tail that forks in two. Plainly nekomata means "forked cat"


	3. Chapter 3

I have 'sick little ideas'. I swear. Not just this chapter. *grin*

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Chapter 3

His skin started to turn a light shade of pink. We were still standing there in the door way looking at each other. He stood still, like some animal caught in the light. I started to move back when I heard my own heart beating in my ears as his skin became a brighter shade of pink and looked … lickable?

"Did you forget something Miroku?" Sango asked from further in the room.

"Ah, hm," I cleared my throat. "No," I stated and turned around to face her. "I don't have to go looking for Inuyasha," I told her as I walked back to where I was sitting.

"And why not?" she asked me. I looked at the door before I sat down and then looked back up at her.

"He's standing outside," I informed her.

"He is?" she asked in surprise, before getting up herself to walk to over to the opening.

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_Why the hell am I standing here like this?_ I asked myself. _Move stupid!_ But I just stood there looking into Miroku's eyes until he moved back inside. As I let out a breath I realized that I was holding it in. _What on earth was that?_ I asked myself. I heard him talking to Sango, and then her softer footsteps as she came towards the door way. _What should I do? Run. Run? Why? I didn't do anything wrong? Step inside, STEP INSIDE!_ I moved the curtain aside and stepped in before she made it to the doorway.

"There you are Inuyasha. Were you up at the well thinking about Kagome?" she asked me.

"As if I would waste time doing that," I told her. "What's for dinner?" I asked as I made my way over to the fire.

"You can have one of those noodle things that Kagome left for you. We are having rabbit curry and rice." she said as she held out one of those Kagome era containers to me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Miroku looking into the pot.

"I think I'll have some of the rabbit if you don't mind. Someone else can have that if they want," I said as I made my way to sit a few feet from Shippo.

"You don't want it?" Sango asked me with a look of disbelief on her face.

"That's what I said. I don't have to eat it all the time." I looked over at Shippo who was also giving me the 'he-hit-his-head' look. Then I hit him on his head.

"What was that for?" he shouted at me as he rubbed his head.

"I felt like it," I told him, but I knew it was wrong all the same.

"You can have my thing," I told him as I picked up his bowl of rice and portion of rabbit.

He didn't even complain that I took his share, as he bounced over to Sango saying that she heard me and that he was to get the food that Kagome left behind. I lowered my head and ate. I didn't lower my face so far that I couldn't see the rest of the room, just low enough so that no one could see where I was looking.

I was watching how he sat while he ate. How he lifted the rice to his mouth instead of tossing it in from his bowl. I had started to notice how he ate months ago. It made me realize how crudely I now ate around him and everyone else. At first I would just try to eat somewhere else, saying that I wanted to keep an eye out for some demon I felt was close by, or saying I wasn't hungry at all and eating later when they were asleep, but I started to miss seeing him. So bit by bit I started to mimic how he ate. No one seemed to have noticed that I started sitting across the fire from him from then on. I'm sure Kagome thought that I started eating with the group again because she had asked me to. She had just given me a good excuse to be seen eating with them again.

One day Kagome pointed out that we looked funny and Miroku thought that I was making fun of him. I hadn't realized that I was matching his movements like that. I finished my meal in a tree that night. I wouldn't really make fun of him like that. I then changed a few things, so I didn't do everything the same way he did.

I glanced over at Shippo, when I heard a slurping sound coming from his direction. He was drinking the last of what was left in the container. I looked down at my own food to see that I was almost finished. I knew that Miroku was almost finished also. I didn't care to check on Sango and her progress with her meal, but I looked anyway to see if she was looking at me. She was paying attention to the kitsune as he lay back with a full tummy.

I turned my mind back to Miroku and then my food in that order. He finished eating before I did and got up to say that he was going for a walk. We all just nodded our understanding and he left the room. With him gone, I finished eating and moved to my place in the room to bed down for the night. I knew that I was going to be dreaming of those eyes tonight. Slowly my eyes closed and the world turned black before I saw him and his eyes that were shining just for me.

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I walked outside into the cool air and lifted my arms over my head as I stretched. _Where will I walk tonight?_ I asked myself. I walked down the steps, and then turned right. I walked for a ways past this house and that house, smiling at a lady, then two. I walked past a tree, then a few more. A bush here and a bush there. When I reached the stream, I stopped and looked around.

It's the same place from this morning. I turned towards the log and walked over to it. I rolled it over to see nothing. _Of course it wouldn't still be there._ I told myself as I let the log roll back into place. _Why was I even looking for it? It wasn't mine to read. I want to know what else he thinks about me._ I answered myself. _Well forget about it_. I told myself_. It's gone and __I'm not__ going to be looking for it. Aren't __you__?_ I asked back. _What are you thinking?_ I asked myself as I saw lights going off in my head as ideas were hatched and discarded, until one started to stand out and take form.

"Maybe," I said as I started to walk back to the hut.


	4. Chapter 4

I'm getting closer to the lemons and limes. *grin*

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Chapter 4

I woke up to the feeling of sunlight warming my face. I sat up and rubbed my eyes as I looked around. Miroku was the first person I looked for. He was still asleep on his mat in one of the darker corners of the hut with his staff lying beside him. Nearer to me, but off to the left, was Sango and Shippo who were both still very much tucked in. I sat there thinking of what to do. If we were out looking of Naraku or jewel shards, we would all be getting up now and looking for breakfast before we broke camp and continued on.

But like this, there was no rush to go anywhere. After knocking down a few ideas I chose to go to the hot spring and take a bath. I got up and walked into the next room where we kept our supplies and such. I got my soap and drying cloth. As I was putting back the stuff I didn't want, a book fell from one of the blankets. It looked like one of Kagome's. On the cover I saw her name and a word I hadn't seen before. I flipped through the pages to see a few numbers on the first few pages, but most of the book seemed to be empty. I smiled to myself as I slipped it into the sleeve of my kimono alongside my book.

Soon I was walking down the steps and down the path to the hot spring. Before I stepped into the clearing I heard voices coming from the area around the spring. I was slightly disappointed to realize that I wasn't the only one there. I looked up before jumping into the highest tree to see who was there. It looked like a family. I sat down and decided to wait them out. I placed my things on a slightly higher branch of the tree and took out my book and pen and started to write down what I wanted to remember and maybe someday share with him.

I started with what went through my head while I was at the well yesterday afternoon. That filled out the last page that I had in my little book. I looked at the new one I had just gotten. It was put together so much better than the one I had made. I asked Kagome how she made it once. She looked at me as if she couldn't believe that I didn't know. She then said that she didn't do it, and that a place called a factory made them. I thought that the people who lived in a factory were taught the craft very well. I then asked her how many people lived in a factory. At this she just started to laugh. Miroku and the others turned to see what was so funny and I didn't want to look like I said something stupid, so I told Kagome that she didn't have to pretend that I asked a dumb question and then laugh to hide the fact that she didn't know the answer. Not everyone knew everything, not even her. That got her to stop laughing at me. I took a quick glance over in his direction, and he seemed to be smiling for me. My heart grew warm and I crossed my arms in victory. Then my ears rang with the next word Kagome said.

"Osuwari!"

As I was spitting out dirt I realized that I should have expected her to do that. Around the time I was able to move from that spot without much pain, I remember her saying that a factory was a building where people go to work to make things. No one lived there.

My eye was now twitching from remembering that osuwari. I took my pen and crossed out her name and that other word. I almost wrote my name next to where her name use to be, but my other book didn't have my name on it. It was good enough that I had taken it from her. I ripped out her pages and put them in my sleeve to burn later. I picked up my old and now filled book to see where I left off. I read my thoughts that I had of Kagome and Miroku at the well yesterday afternoon. Yes, and it was complete. I put it away and opened the new one to press my pen to the very white paper and to start writing what I remembered of my dream. My skin got hot as those scenes played though my head again.

After I wrote the last word, I breathed deeply and didn't hear anything human, just the rush of the stream next to the spring. I looked over to the spring and saw that it was empty, and it was the same for the stream. I gathered up my things and jumped down. I dropped everything into a pile, and stripped down before picking up the soap and dry cloth. I walked into the stream and found the warmest spot to scrub my skin in. I then left the soap on the rock as I walked over to the hot spring. I found a nice seat under some shade and soon I found myself nodding off.

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I looked around as I blinked my eyes. I saw Sango, but no Shippo and no Inuyasha.

"Good morning Sango," I said as I sat up.

"Good morning Miroku," she answered back. "Did you sleep well?" she asked, continuing our small talk.

"Yes I did," I answered as I started to think back as to whether or not that was true. I didn't remember waking up during the night and what I remembered of my dream wasn't bad, just a little bit odd. Most of the girls I dreamed of turned into Inuyasha and no matter what I did, he didn't slap me. I was surprised the first few times when I didn't feel any breasts, but by the fourth time I didn't miss them anymore. He had such a nice voice.

"Miroku," I heard. "Miroku," I heard again. Inuyasha's tempting quiet voice was being replaced by Sango's louder one? I snapped out of what was turning into a nice day dream.

"Ah, yes?" I said in Sango's direction as my eyes began to focus again.

"You're drooling with an odd look in your eyes. Are you really awake?" she asked me. The look on her face told me that she had a clue of what I was possibly thinking about. She would only be half right today.

"Yes," I said to both of us. "I'll go take a bath before breakfast," I said as I stood and went to get what I needed.

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_It wasn't so bad._ I said to myself as I walked towards the hot spring. It's not that I never thought of being with a guy, but Inuyasha never fell into that category for me. Well, at least not until now. He's my friend and it may not be that wise to damage that friendship.

My pace slowed as I got closer to the hot spring. The idea that I came up with last night started to come back to me. The more I thought about it, the more I didn't think that it was that good of an idea. _How was I suppose to get the book from Inuyasha?_ I knew he had to carry it on his person.

When I entered the clearing around the hot spring, I looked up and came to a complete halt. There was Inuyasha, asleep in the hot spring. But more importantly, there was Inuyasha asleep and naked in the hot spring. I started to look around for his clothes. They were closer to me than they were to him. I slowly got closer to them and after carefully looking over at Inuyasha to confirm that he was still very much asleep, I quickly looked though his things to find the book. _Two books?_ I asked myself as I saw the one I found the day before and a new one that looked like it was one of Kagome's. I wrapped them in my drying cloth after putting his things back to how they looked before I searched for the books. I then covered my dry cloth and the books with my own clothes as I stripped down for my own bath and walked over to the stream.

I was scrubbing my back when I heard something like a snort coming from Inuyasha's direction. I turned to see if he was waking up. I saw him as he raised a hand out of the water to wipe it down his face. As his saw me his eyes grew a little bit bigger. I smiled to myself and turned my back to him, as I continued with my cleaning.

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His skin was shining with the light reflecting off the water that covered him. I followed his hand as it slide across his chest and over his arm. I swallowed and licked my lips as my own hand came to rest on my stomach.

"Good morning Inuyasha," he called to me as he started to get out of the stream. _GET OUT OF THE STREAM? OH KAMI! _I had a full view of him. A full, complete view. I grabbed a rock that was below the surface of the water as he came closer and I could see the water in his black, curly hair. I licked my lips again as he stepped into the same body of hot water I was sitting in.

"How long have you been here?" he asked as he took a seat and leaned back, closing his eyes.

I looked up at the sky to see how far the sun had moved. "Not long," I told him with as much interest as I could fake. It's been at least an hour since I started my bath.

"Okay," he said, lifting his head to look at me.

As he continued looking at me, I raised a hand to my face and asked. "Is there something on my face?"

"No," he answered. "I was just thinking that we haven't talked in a while." Then he leaned closer. "How have you been Inuyasha?"

"Ha?" _Where did that question come from?_ "Why did you ask me that?" I asked him.

"Like I said, we haven't talked in a while. I wanted to know how you were. Are you missing Kagome?" he questioned with a smile on his face.

"No, I don't miss her. Who told you I missed her?" I asked him.

"No one," he said. "You have just been acting odd since she left, that's all." He rested his head back and closed his eyes. He didn't say anything else.

I looked at him openly since he couldn't see me and I let my eyes travel up his arms and chest to his neck that was bent back and looked so soft. That lead me to his black hair that stuck to his skin, then I looked over his ear and over his cheek, to end at his lips. The spring was heating his skin to show it off in a glowing pink color. This was very true for his lips.

"Yes, Inuyasha?" I heard him ask me.

"Ha?" I asked.

"Is there something you wanted to tell me, Inuyasha?" he asked me.

"Why do you think I have anything to tell you?" I questioned him.

"Because you came close to me like you wanted to share a secret," he told me.

I blinked at this statement and then realized that I had moved from my seat to cross half the distance that was between us.

"Oh. No. Not really," I told him as I tried to think of something. "It was nothing big," I said, not able to think of something fast enough.

"It doesn't matter how big or small it is. What did you want to tell me?" He sat up more and looked at me, waiting for an answer. My mind started to spin again.

"It's just that I was going to get out and get some breakfast. See? Nothing," I finished with a very small laugh as I headed out of the spring. I thought that I felt his eyes on my back as I stepped out of the water, but when I looked back his head was back and he eyes were closed again.

I wiped off most of the water with my dry cloth and then got dressed with my back to him. I started to look around frantically when I realized that the books weren't where I left them. _Where did they go? _

"Did you lose something, Inuyasha?" I heard Miroku call to me after I crawled from behind a boulder looking for my books. I had hoped that one of the village kids had hid them there or close by as some kind of joke when I was asleep.

"No, nothing," I lied. "I think I left it at the hut and thought I had it," I know they were here. _Where did they go?_

"Ok. Can you tell Sango that I'm going to be here for a while and I'll be back just before lunch? I want to meditate," he said as he looked at me, while I continued to look around the area. "What did you lose? I can keep an eye out for it for you," he offered.

"No. I was just making sure. I'm sure it's at the hut now," I lied again. "I'll tell Sango what you said," I told him as I grabbed my dry cloth and soap then turned to leave. _DAMN!_ _I have to come back after lunch and look all over that place for them. If I smell Shippo's scent on them, I'm going to pummel him._ I stalked back to the hut felling hungry and scared that Miroku might find them before me.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

After I heard his angry footsteps fade, I jumped out of the water and ran to retrieve my clothes and the two books. I placed them on the ground next to me and sifted through them until I found the books.

I looked at the older book before opening it. I hope he stays away long enough for me to find out just how much he might like me. He is pretty jumpy around me when I'm naked it seems, so I guess that he doesn't have any thing holding him back from liking my body. I had taken my time walking from the stream to the pool to see how he would react to me. There is no way the water caused his skin to change to that shade of red that quickly.

I even gave him a look over when he got out the pool and was getting dressed. It's not like there was something else for me to look at. I knew what he looked like even if it had been a while since we had a bath together. I saw nothing new, but there was a new feeling as I watched him dress. I saw him almost like I use to see Sango when I peeked at her taking a bath.

I was slightly happy and slightly disappointed at the same time when he finally got dressed. Given time, and enough tempting moments, I may start to return his interest in me now that I know that he would be open to such a relationship between us.

I saw the book in my hands again and realized that I had to find out if he just wanted to have sex with me or if he was really in love with me. The two entries that I read yesterday made me believe that he might have feelings for me and it's more than just lust, which is why I took the books to find out.

I sat back in the pool and started to read.

I read about times that I had completely forgotten and some I hadn't thought about in a while. He lost a lot of sleep over me the time I got gored by a boar demon. I do remember the feel of someone's hand on my own. I thought that those hands had belonged to Sango, or perhaps Kagome. Once I thought I saw Inuyasha, but dismissed it, thinking it was the pain making me think that, but reading here I see that he was there and he did hold my hand a number of times while I was fighting my three day fever. He says here that I called his name one of those times and that he felt that I was coming out of it when I squeezed his hand. It was like I squeezed his heart in a good way, he continues to write, and he almost cried. I felt a pull on my own heart. I almost wished that I had seen him crying over me. It would have been nice to see him like that, instead of his normal loud self.

I read some more and came across a few of his dreams. The early ones weren't too bad. They sounded like visions of me by someone who needed to have their eyes checked. I looked at my arms and saw that they still had the scars that I knew also covered the rest of my body from all the fights we had managed to live though. The later dreams had me being a bit more active, to say the least. I looked up a few times to make sure that no one was there, watching.

_These were his dreams?_ I started to blush at the images that were being drawn for me. _Where did he learn about some of these things? I hadn't even tried that last one yet. Okay, that's enough of his __dreams for now. It's quite clear that he has no problem with that. _I skipped forward a few pages, avoiding the ones where the first few words contained 'dreamed'.

I then came across one that seemed to be about him and Kagome. I almost didn't read it, but it seemed like this whole book was about me. Maybe he told her something about how he felt about me. I once again looked around to make sure he wasn't on his way back to find me reading it. I hadn't come up with a good way of explaining why I had them yet, never mind reading them.

"Why don't you like me?" she asked. I just sat there looking at my hands. I didn't know what to tell her and she wanted an answer. She asked me again, and this time she used my name to get my attention. I looked up at Kagome and saw that she was hoping it wasn't as bad as she believed it was. She uses that look more than she thinks. Everyone would know that there wasn't a chance for things to turn out well, or that there was nothing to be done for a plagued village or a dying human that we came across, but she would still ask with hope. Most of the time we didn't say anything and just let her understand the situation on her own.

But it looked like she really wanted me to tell her out right this time. I still didn't know what, or how, I should say anything to her about me loving someone else. The only other person that she can think of me being with is Kikyo. I've tried to tell her a few times lately that I've put her behind me. She was really dead and what we saw now on occasions wasn't my Kikyo. I can't go back to someone who is dead.

"Are you sure you don't feel anything for me?" she asked after I hadn't answered her last question. I looked up her and she was trying not to cry. I got up and hugged her and she hugged me back.

"Of course I feel something for you. I'm just not in love with you," I told her as I brushed her hair down her back. I had wanted there to be, and even thought that it was suppose to work out that way when I learned she was my Kikyo reborn, but she doesn't really belong here and I don't love her enough to ask her to stay here with me.

As I ran my hand down her hair from the top of her head, for a second I felt like I was holding Miroku. I know she doesn't smell like him, nor was she even his height. But I felt a little lonely thinking about him and seeing a head of black hair in my arms I just couldn't not think of him. I felt a bit guilty about using Kagome as a stand in for him, so I gave her a squeeze and pushed her away from me. While still holding her shoulders I told her that she was one of my dearest friends and that I would always fight for her.

I told her to dry her eyes before we went back to camp to have dinner with the others. She used my sleeve to wipe her face and dry the edges her eyes before we started walking back. I wanted to see his face then, but I walked in time with her until we got back. Shippo once again started saying some nonsense about what the two of us were doing back there. I took a bowl of food and hit him on the head before I leaped up into a nearby tree to eat. The leaves hid most of me and I was fine with it that way. I looked down at all of them. Kagome started to talk with Sango after a while. Kirara was sitting at her feet pulling flesh from a small leg bone and Shippo was with Miroku. He was asking Miroku questions about the shrine he grew up in.

I listened in happily to also learn something new about him as I ate my meal. Miroku has a comforting tone to his speech when he isn't trying to swindle anyone. When I was finished, I openly gazed down on him. Wishing I could touch some part of him. Hold his hand or lean on him to feel his warmth against me. Sitting back to back wouldn't be bad either. Just to feel him in such a reassuring way would be a nice way to spend the rest of the night.

He looked up into the tree I was sitting in. Could he see me looking at him? He couldn't see me. I saw how his eyes jumped to spots in the leaves. He was trying to see me but couldn't.

_Well that answered my question._ I told myself as I closed the book, but that doesn't really help me with what I have to do now. _Do I let him know that I read the book, and if so, how? Do I tell him that I don't think of him that way? Are you sure you don't feel anything for him?_ I heard myself ask back. I didn't have an answer for that one. I placed the books back under my garments and moved further into the hot spring to think over what I had to do and how to go about doing them.

Okay, I've made a few decisions. I moved back over to the books and took them back out. I got the pen that came with them and wrote on a clean page, one page from his last entry. I then set them aside and got out of the spring and proceeded to dry off and get dressed.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

_Where the hell was he?_ I shouted inside my head. He should have been back already. I keep seeing him reading it. Anyone looking at me wouldn't have known how much I was cowering inside from the fear of him finding those books and reading what I wrote. I sat in the tree that was next to the hut and I was only looking in one direction. The hot spring. I was waiting for anything to tell me that Miroku was on his way back down that path. A black hair strand moving in the air, a flip of his purple robe, or the glint off of his earrings.

I saw nothing but green grass, green bushes and green trees. _THAT'S IT!_ I jumped down and started walking down the path. I couldn't wait anymore. _For all I know he's not even there anymore. _I told myself. _Some village girl could have come along and he could have followed her back home or something._ As much as that idea didn't sit well with me, I'll take it over being found out this way.

I was about to quicken my walk into a run when I saw him come into view from behind a tree. I expected to see him smiling or at least displaying a pleasant expression. He almost looks…_OH NO._ My heart started to sink. He found them. He kept walking towards me so I stood still waiting for him. _What was he going to say to me? Would he say anything at all? Would he just walk past me? He didn't look mad,_ I said to myself as he came closer. _He might give me a chance. _He came closer and I waited to see what would happen. He came to a stop and looked me squarely in the face for a few moments, like he was looking for something. Then he looked down to his hand that held my books as he lifted them up.

He then held them with both hands and moved them around from one hand to the next and back again. I wasn't going to say anything unless he asked me a question. He held out the older book to me and waited for me to take it from him. I reached out and took it from him, making sure not to touch his hand while doing so. My breathing seemed to have calmed somehow by now. I don't think that I was breathing fast and I don't think that I was holding it either, but it did change, and that I noticed. He still held on to the other book. He reached his hand out to the right of him and pulled a leaf from a nearby bush. He then opened the book and placed the leaf inside and closed the book leaving the top part to stick out of the book. He then handed it to me and walked way.

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Yes, I'm cruel today.


	7. Chapter 7

I once again would like to say, just because I have to, that I own nothing but my 'sick little ideas'. I would never be cleaver enough to come up with a girl going through a well to 500 years in the past and meeting up with demons and a magical jewel. I'm too grounded for that.

Now run ahead and enjoy the story.

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Chapter 7

I felt him as he walked past me and I listened to his footsteps as he left. I stood there breathing and breathing and breathing until my knees buckled and I fell forward. He hadn't out rightly rejected me. He didn't call me a hentai or furiiku or tell me that he never wanted to speak to me again. Maybe, maybe at least our friendship was safe.

I looked down at the books and my eyes went to the leaf that was sticking out. I got to my feet and walked a few feet away from the path so no one would just come across me. I sat down with my back pressed against a very old and large tree. I crossed my legs and dropped my old book unto them along with the pen that was in it. I held the newer on in front of me.

I moved my hand over the surface of the book, then paused before reaching my fingers up to the leaf and opened the book at that page. There was his hand writing. It's the first time that I had seen it this way. I've always seen his writing with brush strokes. Even with the missing elements of what a brush brings to the act of writing, his words were still far better written than my own.

Without wanting to, I started to read what he had written.

I'm sorry for reading your writings Inuyasha. I'm also sorry to say that this wasn't the first time that I've read what you wrote. My curiosity got the better of me the day you walked Kagome to the well. The first entry that I read made me feel bad for not being a better friend to you and I was about to close it and place it back under the log when I saw my name again and I couldn't stop from reading on. I didn't think that you would have such thoughts about me. I do not want you to think that I might think less of you because of this. I was surprised that you could feel that way towards me, but I still think of you as a very valuable friend. One it seems, I could treat a little better.

I placed the book back after reading that second entry and I thought over what I read and a few things crossed my mind. Was this just some passing interest you had in me? Was this love you were feeling for me or was it just lust? So while you were sleeping at the spring I hid your books to read them after you had left to find these answers.

I was surprised, touched, and shocked by the things I read in there. You opened my eyes to a few things that I hadn't thought of trying yet with a male or female. Yes, I have been with both males and females. I didn't read all your entries to leave you some secrets, but I was still left with questions. It's clear that you care deeply for me and that you wish to have very long nights with me, but I value our friendship and I don't want to lose that over something like this, if it isn't truly heartfelt.

Think this over. Do you really want to choose me over Kagome? Are you prepared to let anyone on this earth know that we are in love with each other? Do you believe that you love me that much?

For now I think it would be safer for us to talk to each other with this book. We will pass this book back to the other when we have something to say, or ask about all of this. Place a leaf in the book where you wrote what you have to say or ask.

See you at dinner my friend.

I sat in stunned silence for a moment before lowering the book. My biggest fear of him hating me was chipped away as I read his words. He is willing to still be my friend if we didn't end up as a couple, not that that wasn't going to happen now. Now I have to convince him that I am truly in love with all of him and that I am ready to face the world at his side. I smiled for the first time since I left the hot springs earlier that day. I tilted my head back and smiled up at the sky, thanking Kami for the good fortune that I was given today day.

"…_we are in love with each other."?_ Did I read that? My eyes few back to those pages and there it was. It did say 'we'. Does that mean that he had already liked me, but didn't do anything about it? If so, it's going to be easy and fun to get him to accept us. But first I have to give him an answer to his questions. I opened the older book to get the pen, then I reopened the newer book to a new clean page. I sat looking at it as I thought of what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it.

By the time I left that tree the ground was littered with three pages that had been torn into small pieces. Those didn't turn out the way I wanted. I wanted to make sure that he understood what I had to say and what I felt. I grabbed a leaf from the same bush he had used as I headed back and placed it in the book to mark the place where I laid open my heart and my intentions.

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"How long will you be gone?" I asked Sango as she continued to pack her bag. I turned my head to the window when I heard Shippo's laughter.

"Just a few days. I should be back before Kagome," she said.

"Are you sure you want to take Shippo with you?" I asked. I wasn't sure how well Kouga's tribe may take to the little fox.

"Ya, it's not a problem. Besides, it would be nice for him to play with some other kids his age. There aren't many in the village." She paused in her packing. "I've heard some of the parents telling their kids not to play with him because he is a demon." I saw the anger pass over her face. "Besides," she continued. "He's not like you and Inuyasha who don't mind being alone," she finished as she slung the bag onto her back and then walked over to her hiraikotsu that was propped up next to the door. Its strap went across her body that she held in her right hand to help keep it on her back and in place. Her hair was out and falling down her back as she ducked to go outside. Personally I liked it when it was up in a pony tail, but she seemed to save that hair style for when she was going into battle.

"Have a safe journey," I told them from the top step. They had waited for me to step out before they waved and started to walk away from the village.

They were walking hand in hand with Shippo running a head of them, and they made a very happy looking couple if not family, even if it was an odd one.

No one had seen it coming, least of all Sango. First Kouga was trying to get Kagome to be his mate and he enjoyed challenging Inuyasha for her, then he joined our little group. He said that he was going to prove that Kagome was better off with him, than with Inuyasha, and that he was going to stay until she said yes to leave with him. Inuyasha had pulled Tetsusaiga on him in the middle of camp when he had said that. Kagome didn't do anything at first except look at him, not really caring what Inuyasha was doing. After all it wasn't the first time he had pulled his sword on the wolf demon. It was when we actually thought that he was going to use the wind scar that Kagome promptly released a string of osuwari's, which left him unable to move while Kagome sat Kouga down and got him something to eat saying that he was going to be of great help in gathering the jewel shards and fighting Naraku.

He ended up spending two months with us. Bit by bit all of us saw his attentions shift from Kagome to Sango. Everyone but Inuyasha and Sango that is. Kouga continued to woo Kagome until he realized that he was having a change of heart and when he told Kagome, he was a little surprised to find out that she already knew. I was 'meditating' at the time not too far way. When I stood up to let them know that Inuyasha would be happy to hear that, Kouga asked me not to tell him and to let him find out for himself. I agreed, but only because I didn't think that it would take as long as it did for it to sink in that Kouga was falling in love with Sango.

Two weeks before Kouga's time was up with us, I heard around the camp fire that they were now a couple. He had officially proposed and she had accepted. We were all happy for her but the cheering died down as we all thought that she was now going to be leaving us. She quieted our fears by saying that she wasn't leaving the group. Kouga was going to go back to his tribe and she was going to stay until our quest was completed.

For the rest of the time that Kouga was with us, the two of them slept apart from the rest of the group. I guessed that they were storing up time together for when they were going to be apart.

When the day came for him to leave, Inuyasha waited on the path with me and Shippo as Kagome and Sango bid Kouga goodbye. We heard him say that he was going to be back in a month and to take care of his woman. This was directed at Inuyasha who just looked at him while the rest of us looked at Sango as she blushed.

That was six months ago and about every month since he would stop by and spend a few days with us, but mostly with Sango. Today will be the first time that he takes her back to his tribe I think.

Kouga had told me one night that the pack elders had been waiting for him to take a mate for a while now. That seemed to be the reason why he was staying with us before, so he could get Kagome to go back with him and have the whole matter settled. He also sounded very confident that Sango was going to be well accepted by the elders as well as his tribe, even if she was human.

I watched as they walked down a hill and out of sight. _Now that just leaves me and Inuyasha._ I thought to myself. _This may not go the way I was hoping._ I started to worry over what might happen with no one around to keep us, _to keep him,_ I told myself, from acting out what he wanted. Then, as if to give my thought flesh, I saw Inuyasha coming up the path that lead to the hot springs.

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**Furiiku** – Freak

**Hentai** – Pervert


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

I saw him standing outside the hut that we were staying at and I paused before I started to climb the steps as I recognized a scent that I hadn't come across in a month's time. Kouga's scent was so strong that he could have been inside with Sango. I wasn't going to say anything to Miroku that he could overhear.

I walked up to Miroku's side and presented him with the book. I was looking at him as he looked into my face, before he looked down at the book. He started to reach for the book then paused. _He paused?_ Then he continued to reach for the book and took it out of my hand.

I smiled inwardly as he took the book from me. Now, for Kouga. We weren't as much at odds as we use to be when he was trying to take Kagome from the group. How could he have expected me to let her go with him when we needed her to help find the jewel shards? Now, due to Sango, we wouldn't argue as much as we did before, but we insulted each other in passing all the same. I was thinking of a good come back for one or two things that he may say when Miroku walked past me and went inside.

I followed him into the hut and realized that it was empty and that Kouga's scent wasn't inside at all. I looked next to the doorway and saw that Sango's Hiraikotsu was missing.

"Did Sango and Kouga go hunting?" I asked Miroku, as I watched him sit down next to a dead fire pit. All six windows were opened so we didn't lack light. He sat looking at the book.

"Where's Sango?" I asked again. This time he looked up at me.

"She left with Kouga and Shippo," he answered.

"Shippo left too?" I asked.

"Yes. Sango said that she wanted him to play with some other kids," he answered back. "She felt he was having a hard time playing with anyone here because of their parents," he added.

"Oh," I commented. I knew how that could be. I had one or two friends growing up, but the friendships didn't last long once it was found out that they were playing with me and I was only a hanyou. I'm sure Shippo would have it a bit worse, being a full demon.

"So they went to Kouga's den? For how long?" I asked, as new possibilities floated though my head. We were alone. Alone in the hut. Just the two of us. Alone.

"A few days. No more than four. Sango said that she was going to be back before Kagome," he wasn't looking at me, but at the book. He was nervous. He was expecting something to happen now that I knew we were the only ones left here.

I saw this as a sign.

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I forgot that this chapter was so short. It surprised me too when I was reviewing it. Sorry, but they do get longer.


	9. Chapter 9

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Enjoy.

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Chapter 9

"Ah… aahh." I heard his breath as it escaped past my left ear as I licked down his neck. He clung to me and I pushed my body down onto his, between the legs that I separated to get closer to him. I pulled his clothing away from his chest to kiss down his breast bone and then licked my way over to a nipple. I wrapped my arms around his waist and held him to me as he squirmed under my lips.

My fingers started to dig into his back as I felt his lower half start to rub into me in a very disturbing way. I wasn't planning on going that far yet. I eased my hold on him a little at a time while I moved my lips back to kissing his. I kissed with less need and pulled away from him more and more with longer breaths of time in between until I was sitting back watching him as he still held on to my happi coat.

We looked into each other's eyes before I focused on his whole face. I wondered if he was looking at my skin the same way I was looking at his as the heat left, turning it back to its normal coloring. I reached out and touched his neck again and his eyes closed. I saw his skin start to heat up again and I quickly covered him, so we wouldn't end back up where we just came from.

I pulled his purple robes back into place and slowly stood up as his fingers fell from my fire-rat coat.

"I'll see if can fine a rabbit for dinner. Or do you want fish instead?" I asked him as I reached the door way.

"Fish. It would cook faster and I'll get some rice from Kaede," he said without looking up.

I turned around and left without saying another word. I think I might hang out there a bit longer than needed to give him a chance to read what I wrote for him.

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Blank. My mind was blank. Nothing. I have no clue what just happened. We were talking about Kouga and Sango and the few bits of news I got from Kouga about his pack. I was a bit nervous about being alone with Inuyasha tonight and was pleased to see him interested in something else other than me. Maybe I dropped my guard too much.

I turned my back for a moment and he had wrapped his arms around me. As good as I felt, I pulled out of the hug to tell him that I didn't want to damage our friendship before we both knew that this was what we wanted, but he kissed me. His hot lips captured, sucked and licked me. I fell back against the wall and he went with me. _He is a good kisser_. I just remember holding on to him to keep from slipping away. Soon he was pulling away and I did not want him too.

When he touched my neck again I didn't even try to stop him. I almost gasped as I felt the heat from his hand move into me. I was ready for more and I grabbed his coat tighter, but I think he changed his mind and covered me up before he moved away. I let my hands drop from him in disbelief that I was so easily pulled along. I was the one who was talking about saving our friendship, yet here I am, throwing away my so said resolve faster than a girl who actually thought that I would be a good father for our children.

I need to get out of here. I need to go outside and breathe some cooler air. I looked around and saw the empty hut. Yes, Inuyasha went to get some fish. I stood and fixed my robes as I prepared to go see Kaede for some rice. I reached down to pick up the clean, but cold, rice pot from above the fire pit when I saw the green leaf bent onto the book. I picked it up and held the leaf up with my thumb just to have it fall back broken when I moved it away.

_Great. Was that an omen of things to come?_ I put it in the sleeve of my robe and grabbed my staff before I left in search of Kaede.

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Over an hour later I found myself walking back to the hut believing that Inuyasha was sitting there waiting for me with some roasted fish.

_I can't go back. We may end up finishing what we started and I don't want to do something that we will regret later._ The book chose that moment to slide down and stick to my skin, to let me know that it was still there to be read. I reached in and took it out, then found a rock near a lantern that hung out into the street.

I flipped my way to the broken leaf after I placed the pot down on even ground. _Well my hanyou friend, what do you have to say? _I asked myself as I started to read.

Miroku I do love you. I'm not sure what actions I have left to prove to you that I do. I've helped care for you while you were sick. I've fought side by side with you to keep you from being killed. I've even stood up for you against the girls under threat of bodily harm. You may think that it is funny now, but when you let us believe that you slept with that girl and may have been the father of her three month old child, by doing nothing to deny it, you hurt me, but I wasn't going to stand in the way of your happiness. And if being with her was what made you happy, I was going to help. I was truly happy to learn that you were just tying to help and protect a friend of yours who couldn't help the girl at the time.

My heart breaks each time I see or hear that you are with another woman. I always wished that I was the one you chose to hold, but knew that you wouldn't and I would hate you for a few hours thinking that you weren't worth the time it took my heart to ache over you. Then I see you later that day, all smiles, like there was nothing bad in the world and I would just say that you were just being you and looked forward to eating dinner across the fire from you again that night.

I have looked at you for eight months and each day I need to see you more and more. At night I dream of you. Yes, some are where we shout each other's name for the world to hear, but there are others where we just sit and watch the world go by. Ones where we share no more than a kiss and watch each other as light filters down through your hair. I want to see love in your eyes looking back at me. I will tell you that I love you in person to make you believe, so you can let yourself love me back.

You asked if I would let the world know that we are a couple. I have no problems with this. Demons see no shame or difference in love whether it's between two males, two females, or one of each. I may have grown up in the human world, but I didn't always live here. For a few months I lived at my father's home where I was a little more respected, but still hated. My time there wasn't long, but I saw a world that most humans didn't and I considered myself lucky in that small way. I can understand a little why my brother says he hates humans so much. They say that they have so much compassion and that demons are heartless beasts, while they kill their own more than we do and tell others who they should love within their own kind.

The only thing that I feel that I would have to defend, is that you are human, but seeing that I'm not a full demon to begin with, I think the demon world wouldn't care that much about me touching a human in such a way. I would most likely have to fight your kind for the right to stay with you, but with you wanting to stay with me, I would fight any human who would dare challenge us.

_That's my Inuyasha, always ready to fight. My Inuyasha? Does this mean that I believe him now? Do I drop the friend excuse and be with him the way he wants?_

I look down at the pot and moved my hand forward to touch it. It was barely warm now. I closed the book and put it back where it came from. I grabbed the handle of pot and clutched my staff before I set off towards the hut again.

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There's a lime for you. :) It fell from one of the trees in my yard just for you.


	10. Chapter 10

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Chapter 10

_Breathe in and breathe out. We will just let things happen and see where they lead._ I reached my hand out to grab the curtain and I ducked inside. I stood and watched as Miroku placed the lid back unto the pot and swung it away from the fire. He looked up at me but his eyes did not reach my face. I walked over to the fire and watched him as he reached his hand out towards me. I looked at it for a moment wondering what he was asking for. I decided on handing him the basket of fish.

"Thanks," he said as he set it down and started to uncover it. He stopped and then looked up at me.

"Did you catch and cook all of them?" he asked.

"Of course," I said. "Well, kinda," I added. I moved to sit across from him next to the fire pit. "I did catch all of them, but this old lady was there and she said that she could clean and cook them for me. So as I caught one, she would clean it and set it to cook. She even provided the basket. I was suppose to pay her with money, but I caught so much that she took some of the fish as payment instead."

He nodded his head and reached for a bowl. He placed a fish in it and handed it to me. I reached out and held his fingers on the bottom of the bowl. I didn't let go as he tugged at his hand. Finally he looked up into my eyes.

"Did you read the book?" I asked him.

"Yes. I read the book," he answered and I let go of his hand and took the bowl. He took a fish for himself and placed it in a bowl before covering the rest of them.

My heart started to beat faster. _Breathe in and breathe out._ I started to scoop some rice out of the pot.

"Did…" I stopped. I breathed again. "Did I answer your questions?" I was finally able to ask him.

"I think you did," Miroku answered.

"Then what is the problem?" I asked him as I set my bowl down to see him looking into his.

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_Yes, what is your problem?_ I asked myself. Inuyasha told me that I he really loves me. I remembered his entry on how he felt when I was sick with the fever for days. I know that he has fought side by side with me and it answered why he would keep getting in between me and some rather nasty blows at times.

I stared down at the dead fish that couldn't look back at me. _What was stopping me?_ It's not like I've never been with another male before. _Akio. Yes, there was Akio. Inuyasha wouldn't, couldn't do that to you. _

"Miroku?" Inuyasha said.

I looked up at him. "It's me," I said. I held the bowl tighter as I looked at him. "You have to tell me," I told him.

"Tell you what?" Inuyasha asked as he pulled himself a little closer.

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"Tell me that you love me. Make me believe you," Miroku said. I was puzzled. _Why was he afraid? Why could I smell small amounts of fear coming from him? Was he afraid of me?_

I came closer and slowly placed both my hands on either side of his face. I held his eyes with mine as I lowered my hands to his shoulders while I thought of the words I wanted him to hear.

"Miroku, I'm in love with you. I have loved you for a long time and would like for you to try to love me back."

The slight smell of fear from before seems to be mostly gone, but I saw that his eyes were getting wet. _Why?_ I asked myself as he reached a hand up to his face. _Maybe something got in them._ I thought as I let go of his shoulders. He lowered his head as he rubbed and wiped each eye. I sat back waiting for him to say something.

"Ok," I heard him say.

"Ok?" I asked back at him. _What was that suppose to mean? Ok, he heard what I had to say? Ok, that wasn't how he wanted to hear it? Ok, he would try to love me back? Ok what?_

"Ok, I will try to love you back," Miroku said. I looked at him wide eyed as he looked back up at me.

"You will?" I asked him. I couldn't keep the sound of happiness out of my voice.

"Yes I will," he confirmed. I started to lean over to kiss him, but he beat me to it. I was soon lying on the floor and was gasping for breath when he pulled way. I sat up, nipping at his lips as he pulled away until he was too far way to reach. He was smiling now as he sat back down and started to eat again.

Miroku looked like his happy old self again and with our little problem currently settled, we talked of other things that night as we finished our meal.

"Do you think that Sango will make a good co-leader for Kogua's pack?" I asked Miroku. "Not that I don't think that she isn't good enough or anything like that. Just how would she take to it I wonder," I finished as I started to chew on some rice to keep myself from saying anything more.

"Sure. Why wouldn't she? Besides, when the rest of the wolves see how well she hunts and fights, they will be more than impressed," Miroku answered back.

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Inuyasha nodded his head at my answer. I could breathe and talk to him normally again. _I had nothing to be afraid of. I made this harder than it needed to be._ _Akio was still in there causing problems for me it seemed._

"I'm more concerned about Shippo. He's a fox and they're wolves. How well can they get along?" I asked him. I was hoping to hear some demon insight that he was willing to share.

"I think Kouga's pack would allow Shippo into the den. Fox demon or not, besides, they know Shippo, it's not like he's a threat or anything to them," he finished before he started pulling the fish apart.

"True, and they do seem friendly," I added in before I turned back to my meal. "Oh, I almost forgot," I said as I looked down into my empty cup. I poured some tea and set it down, then reached my hand out for Inuyasha's. I filled it with the dark liquid and handed it back to him.

"Kamairicha," he said before he took another sip.

"Yes. Kaede gave some to me," I said. "I wonder how she came across it?" I asked out loud. Not really caring for an answer.

"A traveler came through a few months back. I heard that the old woman treated some injury he had," Inuyasha said.

"Where did you hear that?" I questioned.

"The fish lady," he answered before taking another sip. We finished our meal in relative silence except for the passing back and forth of the tea pot.

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I heard him as he set his bowl down and then his cup after he drank the last of his tea.

"I think that I'm going to turn in early tonight," Miroku said as he got up to put the dishes away. I didn't say anything, but finished in cleaning my bowl of the last bits of rice.

"Inuyasha?" I heard him call when he came back.

"Yes?" I asked as I looked up.

"Can we spar tomorrow morning?" Miroku asked me.

"Sure," I told him.

"Thank you. I don't want to be out of practice for when we start traveling again," he said. Then he walked over to his mat and laid down with his back to me. "Good night Inuyasha," I heard him say after he had settled down.

"Good night Miroku. I'm going to take a bath before I go to sleep," I told him. He was breathing softly and I don't know if he heard me or not. _He didn't look that sleepy a moment ago._

I put my bowl alongside his and soon left the hut with what I would need for my bath. _Getting some practice in before Kagome came back wasn't a bad idea._ I thought to myself as I walked out into night.

I didn't stay long at the river and pretty soon I was walking back up the path to the hut, leaving the night air to finish drying my wet hair. I moved quietly into the hut to make sure that I didn't wake Miroku. I slipped onto my own bed roll looking at him for a few moments before I also fell asleep.

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He was back and it sounded like he was now asleep. I eased out of my mediation and sat up as I looked at him. He hadn't been asleep for long so he wasn't spread eagle, like he was always found in the morning when he sleeps on the ground. I smiled to myself as I crawled closer to him. I touched a damp bit of his hair and moved it off his face. I touched his shoulder and felt how cool his skin was. He didn't put back on his happi and his haori wasn't on very well, letting me see the right side of his chest.

_He is lovable._ I told myself. _And he has been a very good friend to me all this time. Even when he knew I was trying to have a child with any girl that would have me, he fell in love with me. I should tell him __that I haven't been with as many women as he thinks._ _Does that mean that you will tell him about __Akio also?_ I asked myself. _In time. _I answered_. I know about his past loves, he should know about mine. _

I leaned forward and kissed the side of his lips before moving back to my bed roll. This time I truly fell asleep.

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**Kamairicha - **is a Japanese tea that does not undergo the usual steam treatments of Japanese tea and does not have the characteristic bitter taste of most Japanese tea.

**Happi** - it's the top half of Inuyasha's fire rat "kimono" outfit.

**Haori** - is the under shirt that he wears under his fire rat outfit.


	11. Chapter 11

Ok, warning. Yaoi lemon. Big lemon. First of many.

You now see my sick little ideas and I take full credit for all of them but nothing that I didn't create.

Enjoy. *grin, grin*

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Chapter 11

"AAaahhhhhh…" I think my tongue curled like my claws and toes as I woke up to a new day yawning. I scratched my head as I looked around. I stopped when I saw something bright red covering something purple. I rubbed my eyes and saw that it was my happi wrapped around Miroku. I guess it was cold last night.

I crawled over to him and looked at his face. I got closer and closer to him until our noses almost touched. I looked at his hair line. I looked at how his nose curved. I looked at the shape of his eyes, and I studied the different shades of his skin. It wasn't all one color like you would think. It faded in and out as you moved from one place to the next across his face. His skin was lighter around the eyes as well as the skin on his eyelids. His lips and the tips of his ears were the darkest in color. Very pink, but I liked his lips the most. I touched my nose to his for a moment before I softly pressed my lips to his.

"Mummm," he moaned before moving away and rubbing his nose.

_Should I continue to kiss him until he wakes up? He did like it yesterday when we kissed._ I moved my face closer to his again. I placed a few quick kisses on his lips until I felt him starting to kiss me back. The pit of my stomach heated before it did a little shiver and I wanted more as I pressed him with a longer kiss. I pulled my happi off of him and I quickly felt his hand move around my neck before I started to pull him closer. The purple part of his robe slipped down and I moved it aside. It was also just covering him, but he was still too covered in my option. For a moment the memory of him walking from the stream to the hot spring flashed through my brain and lust started to fill me. He didn't try to stop me as I pulled the other part of his robe off his shoulder.

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_Who was kissing me?_ I couldn't think of a girl it could be and this person seemed too strong to be one that I knew. I reached out for whoever it was after my arms were freed. I placed my hand to the back of their neck and deepened the kiss. _Whoever it was, they tasted good and something seemed familiar._ _I'll let that come back to me when it does._ I told myself as I felt his hand moving down my neck and over my shoulder. My skin heated and I wanted to feel him on the rest of me. _Inuyasha. __That's who it is._ I remembered his touch from yesterday.

I went with it and kept my eyes closed as I felt his hand moving down my back. This is different from my dream, but it was just as good. I leaned my head back down to my mat as I felt his lips moving over my chest. I arched my back as he nibbled on a nipple. I felt a tug on my left arm as he finished stripping my chest and arms of all coverings. I felt my robes move further down my body than my waist. I felt his hand as it move up the side of my thigh when he licked around my belly button. I arched my back again to press my hardening self against his chest.

The only thing keeping me from rubbing skin to skin was my fundoshi. He slid up my body and I pulled on his haori until I pulled it free of him and tossed it aside. Now I felt his skin, hot and sticking to mine. He was kissing me again. His tongue was longer than mine and he did a good job moving it around my own. I was grateful for the times he eased up to let me breath, but I pulled him back into kissing me too soon and I would be breathing heavily again, sooner than before.

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I moved my hand down and into the back of his fundoshi. He had been rubbing his hard cock against me since I pulled his robes off. My claws were itching to shred it from his body, but I took care not to tear it apart, but I still moved as quickly as I could as I kissed and licked his chest to keep him occupied until I was finished with getting this damn thing off of him. My blood was running though my body as hot as I ever felt it. I wanted to feel him. I finally had it off of him and I tossed it over my shoulder. I laid him down and waited for him to open his eyes and look at me.

His eyes looked a bit hazy as he looked back at me. It was like he was still dreaming and he was pulling me into that dream to be with him. I stood and made short work of getting rid of the rest of my own clothing. I moved to lay down over him when he reached his hand up and laid it flat against my chest. I was kneeling over his body as he slid his hand down to my belly and raked his fingers in the thick tuft of hair that was above my swelled penis.

"AH!" I gasped as his fingers continued to rake down the length of me. I fell forward wanting him and saw as his face came closer to mine. _I cut his lip,_ I told myself as I tasted his blood in my mouth. I eased my lips from his to lick them clean and to help them heal. He raised his lips up to kiss mine as I felt his hand sliding between our bodies back to the place that was now twitching from the want of him. I felt him wrap his fingers around me and my breath hitched. It then came out in gasps as he started to moan from the feel of both our cocks rubbing together. His hands now held us together as he slowly rocked beneath me. I braced myself up on my elbows and I also started to move.

"AAH…. Ahh…. Hhhh," I was gasping next to his ear as he moaned into mine. He was faint at first, but it got louder as each pitched breath that escaped his mouth did all it could to bring me closer to coming. He held on to our cocks tighter and I moved faster against him. Now he was gasping and moaning louder than before. The hairs on the back of my neck started to stand on end. The darkness behind my closed eye lids started to fad to white and I felt like I had to keep on moving.

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Pleasure washed over me in waves. We were not in sync at all with each other and that only helped to send me spiraling at odd moments when he rubbed a spot he missed the last two times. I arched up to him and our testicles slapped against each other which sent a new blot of color flashing though my brain.

We were breathing too hard to kiss, but his lips hovered and bushed past mine as he moaned and lightly growled at times. Sweat was starting to fall from him and mix with my own. We were getting close. My sight narrowed unto a lock of his damp hair that was stuck to his neck. His pulse would have been hypnotic if it wasn't causing me to hear my own heart beat pumping away in my ears. The urge to lick his neck as he pumped away in my hand and over my own member was bring me closer and closer to losing my voice or shouting his name. My toes started to curl as I felt it I starting to take over.

"I'm coming," I heard Inuyasha say before I formed the words in my own month.

"Kiss me," I said. He looked at me. "KISS ME NOW!" I insisted. He covered my mouth with his just in time.

"MMMMMMmmmmmmmm," I moaned into his open month as I came. I was aware that he hadn't come yet as I started to loosen my hold. I tightened a hand around him and curved my finger over his ridge and up to the very tip as I started to move my hand again to help him come. I looked up at his face and saw his skin tightened and I felt his cock grow again in my hand. I even felt my own cock start to twitch back to life as he growls got deeper.

He surprised me as he pressed down onto my body to pull me to him before raising his head and howling. I felt it vibrate into my body and I wrapped my arms around him as it pooled inside of me. I was shaking myself as I think I came again.

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**Fundoshi** - is the traditional Japanese underwear for adult males, made from a length of cotton cloth.


	12. Chapter 12

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

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Chapter 12

Heavy breathing filled the hut, if not just my ears. Inuyasha was holding me with my face to his shoulder as he stroked my head absently and my arms were still around his waist. I started to rub a finger over a bone that was sticking out of somewhere. The sweat had cooled his skin and was still there to help glide my hand over his lower back.

As I waited for him to release me, my hand moved lower as I closed my eyes and enjoyed the smell of him that I couldn't avoid.

"AH!" I shouted in shock and pain as he dropped me.

"I'm sorry," he said as he pulled me up into a sitting position under him.

"What was that for?" I asked him as I rubbed the side of my head with one hand and laid my other arm over his thigh.

"You grabbed my ass. I wasn't expecting it," he said. "I should have known, but I didn't expect it," he added. Now he started to blush. I reached a hand up and slipped it around his neck to bring his face down for a kiss. As I pulled away I heard this squishy noise. I looked down and besides the pink and cream colored flesh of our not so private parts, I saw that we were covered in both our ejaculations.

"I think we need a bath," I told him as I looked back up into his face.

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For the next two days it was like I was living in one of my dreams.

I laid back on a branch and looked up through the leaves at the small patch of sky that got covered by a passing cloud. I looked down to Miroku's black hair as he sat below me meditating. It was a nice day and it got off to a great start. I loved waking up next to him. The only thing better was falling asleep with him.

This morning he kissed me awake and we had the last of the cakes, that had gotten hard, which Kagome had left behind. We spent the morning practicing and then came back to the village to have lunch with Kaede. She was taking care of a sick villager, so she packed some food for us and we left to eat somewhere else. We ended up eating outside of our hut and then went to soak in the hot spring.

We weren't just soaking once we started kissing. I felt a smile take over my face as I remembered the kiss and the grasping hands. There was the splashing of hot water, the sucking, the licking and the fingers. I wasn't smiling anymore as I felt my face, along with the rest of me, warm with the memory of his fingers and what he did to me with them. My gut tightened as I remembered the way he made me feel. The leaves faded to look like the rocks that were around the spring. The blue sky turned into the hot water that heated our skin.

He turned me towards the bank and lifted my leg to push his fingers in further. I clawed at the ground each time he pushed in, but I felt like I wanted to feel more. I told him more and I expected to feel more fingers, but I screamed and dug my claws into the ground, and still he pulled me towards him. I realized that it wasn't his whole hand like I thought it was, when I felt both of them holding me around my waist. His cock was up my ass. I didn't think that it was going to hurt this much. It wasn't hurting as much when I heard Miroku whisper into my ear that he was going to move. _I DON'T WANT TO. I DON'T WANT TO._ I screamed in my head. _IT'S GOING TO HURT._ It did hurt, but the hurt changed to something better by the third stroke in. I liked the long ones when he would ram into me then come almost all the way out and go back in again. I came before he did and we just kinda laid there for bit after that.

Now I was in a tree, remembering that I was up a tree and he was down there meditating. I sat up and wiped my face to make sure that it was still dry before I jumped down.

"I'm going to go hunting," I told Miroku after he opened one eye to look at me. He closed it again without saying a word and nodded. I smiled to myself as I turned and walked away with my hand resting on Tetsusaiga's hilt.

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His footsteps faded back into what I was thinking about before he jumped down out of the tree. Sango was due back later that day and Kagome tomorrow. I even think that Sesshomaru said that he was going to be by in about two days from now. We won't have time to be by ourselves for a few days. That was one of the reasons I seduced him today after lunch.

_Meditate. Calm the urges. Breathe and become calm._ I tried to focus on that point. I saw it and thoughts flowed. _I'm a monk, I can do this._ My muscles relaxed even more. My breathing swallowed and slowed. The sounds around me became clearer and separated themselves from each other. I heard the grass move next me as the wind, that ruffled my hair, twirled through its blades. The bark of the tree I sat against echoed its strong presence to me. I started to drift as I absorbed the rays of the sun that danced across my face and hands.

Golden eyes sparked with mischief as they squinted at me. Sharp claws above soft finger tips left heat trails in my sight as my skin grew cold and burned hot almost at the same time. Lips then pushed out of the darkness and grinned to bear a set of white teeth and matching fangs. The lips pulsed slightly as they drew closer. They had a heart beat of their own. I wanted to lick them. Salty skin that tasted sweet soon pushed back against me. I…

I snapped my eyes open as I pressed back against the tree and I took long deep breaths. _That is not __how you meditate! I know that!_ I shouted back inside my head. _If you can't keep yourself from grabbing him, you won't have to tell anyone. They will just find you having sex in the middle of camp! I said I know!_ I did not enjoy the idea of anyone seeing us like that and that was out of decency rather than shame of being with Inuyasha.

_When will we tell them? I'm not sure. It can't be too soon. I want us to be together for a while before we let the others know._ I still feel like I'm taking him from Kagome and I don't like the idea of hurting her. I would feel better if she had someone. Besides Shippo, who doesn't really count, she will be the only one without a partner. She lost Kouga to Sango and now it seems like she lost Inuyasha to me. It will take planning to tell her.

That seemed to have sobered me up a bit to the situation. I'm going to have to talk with Inuyasha about this. Maybe he could even be the one to let Kagome know that we were now together when the time came.

I stood up and dusted myself off before walking back to the hut. I should figure out how I'm going to cook whatever he brings back today. I haven't had to cook for a while since I joined Inuyasha's group, not that I cooked that much when I was on my own. There was always a nice lady willing to provide food for a young traveling monk, but I did find it reassuring that I could cook something decent for myself when I wasn't near a village for a few days.

By the time I made it back to the hut, my robes were heavy with things I had found along the way. A few roots here and there and some leaves that smelled good and could be used in a soup or help flavor the meat once it wasn't fish. Just before I saw our hut, I saw some nametake mushrooms and thought that they might be good to have also. I was about to bend and pull some when I thought that it would be better to keep them living for a while longer.

I went inside and placed what I collected into two bowls. One for the leaves and a larger one for the ones covered in dirt. I then walked outside to get some wood from the stack that was between the house and the tall pagoda tree.

On my way back I kicked something and heard what sounded like a crack. I looked down to see a dirt encrusted bowl. Not an expensive one by the looks of it. I moved it around with my foot and saw that it was just missing part of its rim. We couldn't eat from it, but it could be used to hold something. I walked back inside, set the wood down and to started to build a fire.

I sat there looking at the fire, thinking that it wouldn't be too hard for Inuyasha and I to put some time between the times we could be together, when the group was back together. I will miss waking up next to him, even though we haven't been doing it for that long. I started to dust some dirt off of my robes when I remembered the mushrooms from earlier. _I can hold them in the bowl I found outside._ I walked back outside to retrieve the bowl and was walking in the direction of the mushrooms when I sensed a powerful demon coming closer.

I looked around as the wind and leaves moved knowing that someone or something was on its way. I was about to run back and get my staff when I recognized the presence. I looked back up into the sky in the direction he was coming from, when he must have walked out of the woods. He stood there and waited for me for me to look down and see him.

"Sesshomaru-sama," I said when my eyes became level with his.

"Where is the kitsune?" he asked me. I guess I wasn't meant to be addressed.

"He's away with Sango. He should be back tonight," I told him.

"Rin, he is not here. Do you wish to stay?" he seemed to say to no one. Rin then walked around him and into view.

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama," she said as she stood still in front of him. We both waited to hear what he would say next.

"I will wait with you," he told Rin. He then turned his attention to me.

"Where is my half brother?" he then asked.

"He went hunting. He should be back soon," I said. I didn't really know how much long he would be gone. "Would you like some tea while you wait Sesshomaru-sama?" I asked him.

He looked down at Rin who hadn't moved, but was now smiling. "Go and play," he told her. She turned and ran towards me.

"Hello Miroku," she said.

"Hello Rin," I replied. "Would you like some tea?" I asked the smiling child.

"Yes please," she grinned up at me. "Do you have any wa-gashi?" she asked as we walked into the house.

"I'll have to see if we have anything sweet," I told her as she followed me around as I got the tea ready. We then looked for something sweet for her to eat with the tea. We looked through the bag that Kagome had left behind, thinking it would be the only place to have such a thing. There wasn't much left in it, but I took a closer look at something that I passed over before. It was pink and at one time I think the mass was a number of little balls from the pattern I saw on the surface, and a faint memory that I had of seeing it weeks ago. I looked over what they were sealed in and read the word 'manjyu'. _That was a wa-gashi right?_

I tore the sticky bag open and managed to pull one from the others. We both looked at it and I looked at her looking at it. _I couldn't let her taste it first. If she got sick Sesshomaru would skin me alive_. I went back to looking at the little pink thing. I raised it to my nose and smelled it. It didn't smell like it was bad. I took a small bit of it and chewed slowly. It tasted ok and I liked the red bean paste that was in the middle. I waited to see if anything would happen to me. I counted to ten, nothing. I guess it was safe. I ate the rest of it and waited for the count of twenty, still nothing. I pulled one out of the bag and gave it to Rin. She looked at me before popping it whole into her month and chewing.

"Delicious!" she remarked. "May I have another one Miroku?" she asked.

"You can have one more with your tea." I told her as I took the bag with me. I placed three on a plate and poured two cups of tea.

"You poured tea for Sesshomaru-sama. I'll take it outside," she said as she took up the tray and then made her way outside, backwards.

"I am here my lord. I have secured Ah-Un outside of the village like you told me," I heard coming from outside. _Great_.

"Master Jaken, would you like some tea?" I heard Rin offer that little green imp. Now I really didn't feel like going back outside. I look around the hut as I decided whether or not to stay inside. The fire was still ok. I had brought in extra wood for when it started to die down. My eyes fell unto a dirty cracked bowl. _The mushrooms, I can do that._ I picked it up and walked outside. I didn't expect anyone to stop me and no one did. As I walked away from the house Sesshomaru didn't even look at me. Jaken on the other hand stared at me as I walked pass and Rin didn't see me as she picked some flowers that were close to the hut. I stopped to look at her as she paused in her flower picking to watch a hyomon-cho as it fluttered by her nose. She watched it as it made a very uncertain path over to the bushes on her left. She then moved on to picking some small yellow flowers. I turned and walked into the woods with the feel of Jaken's eyes still on my back.

I didn't even have to touch the mushrooms as I moved them from the ground to the bowl. They were living off of a dead stump and I just took the piece that they were growing from and moved it to the bowl. I was about to stand up when I felt someone kiss the back of my neck. I froze. When the kissing continued I relaxed and reached my hand up to touch the side of his head.

"Do you know?" I asked him.

"Yea, I almost lost the boar because of him," Inuyasha said back. I turned around kissed him properly.

"Muumm," I moaned as I let go of him.

"I was hoping for a few more hours before everyone started to show up," he said before he pulled me closer and kissed me again.

"I guess we will have to settle for a bath together tonight," I told him as I stood and he stood with me.

"Nametake mushrooms?" Inuyasha asked as he looked down at the bowl I was holding.

"Yes. I thought they might be part of dinner. Where is it?" I asked him as I started looking around. About twenty paces back I saw the hairy thing lying on its side.

"We can give some to Kaede in exchange for all the food we got from her while the girls were gone," he told me as we looked over the large animal.

"Come on, let's get this over with," Inuyasha said as he grabbed it and lifted it unto his shoulder. We then walked out of the surrounding trees together.

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**Hyomon-cho** – English name is "Marbled Fritillary". It's a type of butterfly. This species occurs from the western Europe to the eastern Asia. "Hyomon" means panther pattern.

**Wa-gashi** - (Japanese confectioneries) developed under the influence of the Japanese culture and traditions, in addition to the influence from China and the West.

**Nametake** - Even though they look differently, nametake and enoki are actually the same mushroom. Nametake is the wild version, while Enoki is the cultivated version. Enoki are a popular ingredient for hot pot dishes.


	13. Chapter 13

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Chapter 13

That night Sango, Shippo and Kouga showed up just after sunset to find Sesshomaru and Inuyasha outside. Kouga decided to join in on their conversation and took up a seat of equal distance from both of them. After a certain point, it started to sound like a class lecture all aimed at Inuyasha. When Miroku was passing with Kaede's share of the boar that he had finished cutting down and cleaned with Sango's help, he heard something of their current topic.

"You guys sound like Kagome," Inuyasha exclamed as he sat back.

"How?" Kouga asked as he glared at him. He may have fallen out of love with Kagome, but he still felt like protecting her, especially when it came to Inuyasha.

"She is always saying that I don't know anything. I don't like being called stupid," he said. Now he was glaring back at the wolf demon.

"Who called you stupid, you stupid mutt?" Kouga flung back at him.

"Inuyasha," was all Sesshomaru said as he looked at his half brother to keep him from attacking Kouga. They both looked at each other for a few moments before Inuyasha eased back into a sitting position.

"No one is saying that you are stupid," Sesshomaru paused to give Kouga his look. Kouga visibly shrunk back. He then turned back to his brother. "We are just letting you know things that you should know. You have a birthright that you should at least keep an eye on. And in doing so, you should know who to trust, who not to, and who to look out for, at what time. You still have a long way to go to before calling yourself the Son of Inu no Taishou, without anyone laughing behind your back, or to your face," he then lifted and sipped from the latest of the many fresh cups of tea that Rin bought him.

As Miroku walked away and towards Kaede's hut he thought that Inuyasha didn't care to call himself "Son of Inu no Taishou" when he heard a high pitched screech followed by dying laughter, which was then followed by shouts of reprimand from Jaken.

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Kaede thanked Miroku for the fresh meat and inquired about the strong demon force she felt coming from their hut. Miroku told Kaede that it was something called a "play date" that was for Shippo and Rin. Kaede showed her surprise at the fact that Sesshomaru was visiting a brother that he seemed to try and kill whenever the opportunity presented itself.

With a cup of tea of his own, Miroku sat down to tell the story of Sesshomaru's slight change of heart and how the "play date" came about.

"It was about two months ago," he started.

"We had sensed two strong demons fighting and we tracked the demons' energies until we found Naraku fighting Sesshomaru," he sipped some tea, and Kaede continued to make some kind of healing paste. The banging of wood on wood provided a steady backdrop of the story.

"Rin was being held by Kagura, and Jaken was lying at their feet. We separated to get Rin and to attack Naraku while we were still unnoticed. Kagome shot Kagura with an arrow and Shippo was helping to protect Rin when Naraku noticed them. Inuyasha and I attacked him from the other side and he then turned his attention to fighting us."

Miroku reached his hand up to scratch a bump that was starting to form at the base of his neck as a mosquito flew out of arm's reach.

"Kagome with the help of Sango pulled Jaken, Sesshomaru and Rin to a safe distance before Sango joined in on the fight. Once again we almost had him. Something Sesshomaru did must have weakened him to let our attacks affect him as much as they did. It's like he doesn't think of getting away until he's almost beaten, but then he never thinks that he could ever be beaten," Miroku said as he looked over at Kaede.

"That is part of his insanity," she said as she filled one of the smaller jars with the completed healing slave.

"After Naraku ran away," Miroku continued. "We realized that Kagura was also missing. She was shot through the heart, yet she was able to leave on her own it seemed. Maybe she doesn't have a heart like her master," Miroku finished. He started to stand when Kaede stopped him.

"Ye haven't finished your story boy," she said.

"I haven't?" Miroku questioned her.

"Ye haven't told me how he has come to be here now," she told him.

"Please forgive me. You are right, my story isn't finished. Well, after the battle we took care of Rin, Jaken and Sesshomaru for about two days. Inuyasha didn't help much, only when one of us asked him too. Jaken was better before everyone else. He wasn't injured badly, he was just knocked out. As for Rin, some poison had entered her body and she was still a little warm when she left after the second day. Sesshomaru somehow was beaten very badly. Sango and Kagome spent a lot of time tending his wounds. We all wondered how that was possible, but in the end we accepted what Inuyasha said that not even his brother was invincible and that Naraku never fought fair."

Miroku shifted in his seat a little before continuing.

"Somehow Kagome spent the most time with him. A few times she would storm away, but she was always back in time to change and check his wounds before one of us had to do it. We heard her talking to him a lot the last day we were all together, but we didn't go close enough to hear what they were talking about. We did know that he didn't talk back most of the time. When the next day came, Kagome was the only one who argued with him over taking Rin before she was fully recovered. He said that he would get her to their home before mid day and he had his own healer there who would take care of her. Just before he took to the sky with Jaken holding on to his mokomoko, he turns to Inuyasha, well we thought it was to Inuyasha until he started talking. He was really speaking to Shippo. He said that Rin will be back in two moons' time to visit him. Then he left," he paused for a moment before continuing.

"Now it is two moons later and he has brought Rin to spend some time with Shippo like he said. Somehow he seems to be getting along with Inuyasha also. Personally, I look forward to fighting alongside him when we meet up with Naraku again. He hasn't said that he will join with us yet, but I don't think that it's as impossible as we once thought it was."

Kaede agreed and bid him a good night, and thanks for the meat as he got up to leave. With just his staff in hand Miroku walked back to a hut that was now too small for everyone who would be spending the night.

Clinking of metal on metal accompanied the sounds of his footsteps as he got closer to what could turn out to be an interesting night.


	14. Chapter 14

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Chapter 14

"Inuyasha-sama, when will you come and visit us?" Rin asked Inuyasha as they sat eating outside.

As Miroku came closer, he realized that two people were missing from the get together. Sango and Kouga weren't outside as far as he could see. A smile pulled at the corner of his lips as he moved past the others and towards the hut to get his own portion of the meal.

He left his staff below before he started up the steps. He shared a brief glance with Inuyasha before he ducked inside. Miroku stopped just inside the door way letting the curtain fall behind of him. He leaned against a wall and looked at something that he was trying to do just over a year earlier.

"Hahm!" Miroku loudly cleared his throat as Kouga was about to pull aside the last layer of clothing that would have relieved her left breast.

Kouga stood and blocked his view as Sango pulled her clothes back into place. Miroku thought that he tried to growl at him. It sounded more protective then hatred which was a good distinction at this moment in time.

"You guys should find somewhere a bit more private," Miroku said as he stepped into the room. Kouga inched forward and continued to protect Sango until she placed her hand on his very bare shoulder.

"What if one of the children ran in here instead of me?" he asked as he smirked again. Sango knew that he had walked in on them on purpose, but he was right. It was the wrong place and the wrong time. She tried to stop Kouga but it was kinda hard since she didn't really want him to stop.

"Do you want something Miroku?" Sango asked as she stood next to Kouga.

"I just came for something to eat," he answered. Sango walked over to the fire as both Miroku and Kouga took a seat. They were all soon eating and talking with the memory of how Miroku walked in on them almost forgotten.

"So Sango, how did the tribe welcome you?" Miroku asked out of true curiosity.

"They were all friendly. Just the kids seem to keep their distance until Kirara showed up," she said before taking a bite of her own food. Kouga picked up the conversation with Miroku as Sango started to remember what she was doing for the past two days.

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**As we neared the den, we saw Hahhaku and Ginta first. Shippo ran ahead and came running back with them to meet us. I had a feeling that they wanted to see us before everyone else did. **

"**Hello Sister Sango," they almost said at the same time. I blushed at the new name I was given. I glanced over at Kouga and he was beaming with pride. We walked onward and soon I was asked a question from Ginta.**

"**How long will you be staying with us?" he asked. **

"**Just two days," I told him. He looked a bit down for a moment before Hahhaku nudged him. **

"**We'll go ahead and let everyone know that you are on the way," Hahhaku said before he ran off with Ginta. **

"**Hey, wait for me," Shippo said before he ran off to join them. Kouga held my hand as we walked the rest of the way alone.**

"**Should I be preparing myself for something?" I asked him as I started to think of what Hahhaku said.**

"**Nothing much. It's just a little meeting with the elders and an introduction to the rest of the tribe," he told me.**

**I was a little nervous but I was going to face this head on. I wanted to be with Kouga and I was going to do my best to have them like me. I smiled and kissed him on the cheek before we went to meet his tribe. The trees continued to thin until there were none left on the last hill we had to climb. We walked to the top of the hill and I came to complete stop. **

**I stood still just looking down at everyone and everything before Kouga pulled me forward. We entered a large clearing outside of the den that seemed to have been sprinkled with water to keep the dust down. Later I found out that it was really a number of dens hidden inside the cliff face. There were at least sixty-five people shaped demons there mixed in with an equal number of wolf shaped demons, not counting the cubs and Shippo who was showing off his toy top to some of them. Kouga lead me through the crowd and numerous sets of curious eyes, over to an older wolf demon who stood near the center of the clearing. I assumed that he was one of the elders that I was suppose to meet. As we stood there, I looked around and noted that other older members of the tribe were making their way towards us. **

"**Sango, formally of the tribe of demon slayer?" were words spoken by the wolf in front of us.**

**_OH NO_. I felt my face burn. _Did he have to say demon slayer?_ "Yes, I am," I answered him as I looked down into his upturned face. **

"**Is it true that you have chosen Kouga, our leader, to be your mate?" he asked me.**

"**Yes," I answered back as I squared my shoulders.**

"**Are you aware that we, members of the Eastern Wolf Pack tribe mate for life? And that if you agree to be mated with him you will also have to stand by your decision for as long as you live?" It was completely silent as everyone listened on. I didn't even hear Shippo's voice or any of the cubs who were happily playing a moment ago.**

"**Yes, I do," I answered back. _Why do I feel like I was getting married by way of threats instead of vows?_ I thought to myself. **

**He, with the rest of the tribe, looked at me for what seemed like an eternity, when he stepped forward and nudged Kouga's hand with his nose. **

"**I approve of your mate," the old wolf told him. I raised an eyebrow at what seemed like a pat on his back. I then felt Kouga's hand as he mixed his fingers with mine and held my hand. **

"**Thank you," he said. "I was lucky to have found her. We match each other well and I'm sure that everyone will love and come to trust her over time like I have."**

**_Thank you Kami._ I squeezed his hand and hoped that I wasn't blushing too much. I then looked around to see how the rest of the tribe was taking in what he said. I was happy to see a lot of smiling faces. **

**I was surprise when he introduced me to a female, that came up to us after the old wolf walked away, as his mother. She looked younger than I had expected. Her hair was black like his and they were about the same height. Her ears were pointed to show that she was yōkai, but she didn't have a tail. Her hair was tied at the base of her neck and she only wore furs over her calves along with a short orange kimono that had no sleeves. **

**I was relived for him the night he told me that his mother wasn't with the tribe when it was attacked. At least he had that small blessing among the tragedy of what had happened that day. She had taken most of the unmated females along with most of the cubs to another tribe to find mates and to see others who had left and married into the other tribe. **

**When I told her that I was happy that she was away when the tribe was attacked, she said that she would be more than happy to help me plan next year's trip. Confusion and slight sadness clouded my eyes as I looked from her to Kouga. **

"**I... I don't know if I will be here," I said after I turned back to the woman who was going to be my mother-in-law. **

"**Oh, why not?" she asked me. Again I looked to Kouga for some help. **

"**She has to finish her mission okāsan," he said as he now held her hand. "Do you not remember?" he asked in a cocky way that left me thinking that he trying to egg on his mother. **

"**Oh, Naraku," her statement darkened her feathers. I reached out and hugged her. I don't know why, but I wanted to comfort her. **

"**I promise you okāsan, I will make him pay for everyone he has every killed or harmed," I felt her hug me back and when I felt her arms loosen around me I let her go. **

"**Come, I'll show you your den," she said as she grabbed my hand and pulled me through the rest of the crowd.**

**It was kind of honey comb looking, yet it didn't at the same time. I don't really think that they found it this way. There was a main hall way in the cave, with every opening that had a hanging skin taking you into a separated sleeping area. It seems that we were staying in the one that was all the way to the back of the cave. I was later told that some members of the tribe had even been trying to dig tunnels upwards to make more dens above the older ones. **

**When we got to the end of the main hall way I saw two sleeping spaces back there and thought that we would be sharing with his mother. When she saw me looking at both areas, she said that she will be staying with a friend for the two days that I was going to be staying with them. I tried to tell her that she didn't have to leave, but she insisted. **

**Kouga took my bag and set it down against the back wall as I propped up Hiraikotsu next to the opening. The minute that my back was turned to him, with his mother out of ear shot, I felt his hands as he slid them around my waist. **

"**Kouga…" he cut me off before I could say anything more by turning me around and kissing me hard enough for both of us to fall unto the bed. **

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"Sango?" Someone was calling me. I saw my hands come into focus before I raised my head and saw Miroku speaking to Kouga.

"So her visit went that well did it Kouga?" he said with a hentai under tone that was too much a part of him for him to have stopped it from coming out. It didn't however stop me from wanting to slap him as he stood up. "I'll help you gather up the sleeping bags for tonight," Kouga said.

"Sleeping bags? What for?" I asked in puzzlement as I felt that I missed out on more than just them talking about my visit to Kouga's tribe, if that was what they were truly talking about.

"I'll see if I can get Inuyasha to ask Sesshomaru if he would mind keeping Shippo with Rin for the night also," Miroku finished. He was even rubbing his chin.

"What are you thinking hentai?" I asked him.

"It's nothing hentai at all. You are set to be mated. It's very natural for you two to be together. I'm just being considerate and giving you a very wide… breathing area for the night," his smirk got bigger as he looked at me. _I was going to hit him after all_, I told myself.

"Thank you Miroku," Kouga said before I could lay a finger on him.

"I'll get the sleeping bags," I said as I walked to the back of the hut to punch his sleeping bag to my contentment. After I was over my fit, I gathered a few things together along with their sleeping rolls. I packed some of the last of the snacks for Shippo to share with Rin now that I didn't feel like hitting Miroku anymore. He was after all letting me have one last night with Kouga before we parted ways again.

Sesshomaru seemed to agree to let Shippo join his camp for the night. He did appear indifferent over this little matter, but everyone was sure that he wasn't all that happy with having to look over another child. Jaken was far more vocal over his displeasure of having to babysit someone else. Inuyasha gave us an odd look before he left with Miroku. I almost thought that it was concern.

"See you at breakfast," I said to them as they walked away. I wasn't sure where they were going, but soon they were hidden from sight by bushes and trees.

I felt both of Kouga's hands as they came around my waist and pulled me back against his body. He never bothered to put back on his armor or his shoulder pads. I pressed back onto his chest as I looked up at the half moon.

"I love you Kouga," I said as I laid my hand over his. I laid my head to the side and closed my eyes to enjoy his warmth. I soon felt his lips on my neck as he kissed me. Once, twice, three, four times.

"I love you too Sango," he said. I turned my face to look at him and he looked at me with those soft purple eyes of his. He bent his head down and kissed lips that I parted for him. I turned my body around into his and deepened the kiss. Kouga pulled my body to his and I loved the feeling that raced up my spine. I pushed him back inside the house to continue what Miroku had interrupted earlier. He backed up into the hut as I walked forward pulling pieces of clothing from my body.

"You are beautiful," he said just before I pulled the last of his furs from his body.

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As soon as we were no longer insight of the hut, I reached across the distance between us and held his hand.

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**Okāsan** – Mother


	15. Chapter 15

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Chapter 15

My left ear twitched from the noise made by some annoying bird. I rubbed my face into his chest a bit more and moved my hand to another spot on his belly. I really didn't want to wake up. I felt his leg that was wrapped around mine slide down then come back up again before stopping. Somewhere in my slightly sleep deprive mind, I was aware that his heartbeat hadn't changed, so I knew that he was still asleep. Considering that we didn't really go to sleep until the sun started to rise, I wasn't in any rush to get up.

"No more," slipped out from his sleepy lips and I just smiled as I remembered. We had fucked each other in turn after thinking that the last time was the last time. But each time we would touch each other, desires would spread through us both and we were at it again. Were able to go to sleep when we didn't have the energy to act anymore. It was still there...that want to taste his skin, to feel him in me, for me to suck him into my mouth...oh how it was still there.

The smell of him that surrounded me had images going through my mind of what I wanted to do to him, but all I could do was fall deeper into my memories as I went back to sleep.

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I sat looking at my daughter. _When had I started to think of her as my daughter?_ That was the question that I have been trying to answer since I woke up. The question in truth had been floating around inside my mind for a few weeks now, but I guess now was a good time to address it.

It had been planted there by my half brother's ningen female. While I was in her care, she babbled constantly. When she was visiting me and checking my wounds, I had learned how to tune out her voice, but some of her words would creep past my defenses. At least that is what I half told myself. She would ask the oddest and most puzzling questions that I would listen to just too hear what would fall out of her mouth next. I didn't answer most of them. One or two, but I soon stopped when I realized that they just created more questions instead of putting an end to them.

One of the questions I did answer had to do with how old I was. I thought that if she knew that I wasn't as close to her age as she seemed to believe, that I may gain enough respect as an elder to help keep her quiet. That just lead to more questions of how long I would live and how long my half brother would live and on and on.

My left eyebrow twitched as I remembered her onslaught of words and how I had to pretend to be asleep to get her to stop. She never really left. She would stay and sit next to me, then leave for an hour and be back again. I wasn't a ningen nor a cub to require this much attention, but there she was without fail.

I started to think that she was doing this for Inuyasha, to somehow prove something. When I was starting to believe that she was doing this out of some kind of twisted sense of duty, my mind would turn to Rin and for those moments I couldn't hear a word she was saying. Rin chose to follow me and what did she ask of me? Nothing. All I had to do was protect her. Naraku will pay and pay dearly before I allow him to die. This is the second time that he has harmed her to get to me. He is a base creature that deserves no mercy.

"She will be ok. She will take longer than you to heal of course, but she doesn't have enough poison in her system to kill her," Kogame said. Yes I know her name. I just didn't feel the need to constantly say it.

"You have a good, strong musume-san there," she said. She seemed to have taken a while to come up with those words which made them even more surprising when she said what she did.

"Musume?" I asked back. _How did she get to that conclusion?_ "Why do you call her my musume?" I asked her.

"Well isn't she?" she asked. "I know that she isn't your blood, but you have taken her in and looked after her and protected her," she finished.

She looked at me with something in her eyes that I couldn't place. It was making me uneasy and I looked back at Rin. My "musume". The title wasn't that far-fetched, and at this point in time it seemed to fit the small body lying under the covers, but she wasn't my daughter. She is my ward, someone who needs my protection and who gets it without asking for it.

Once I had her back at our home, my healer said that there wasn't much for her to do. Whoever had tended to her before had done a good job and all that was really left to do was to make sure that she was comfortable until she got better. Rin's fever didn't break for another three days. Each day I would stop by her room after dinner and sit next to her bed.

Once I had confirmed that she was getting better I would go to my room. If I tried to stay longer than a few moments a slight sting of something close to shame would start to prick at my conscience. When Rin's fever had broken I started to eat dinner with her to make sure that she ate. Masami, my healer, said that she would have to eat something that greatly offended my own nose, but it had to be done. After she had eaten a small bowl of it I allowed her to have something that she wanted before she went back to sleep. Getting her to go back to sleep wasn't that hard since she was still tried from fighting the fever.

Five days after her fever broke she was running down the halls again. One day when I was sitting outside reading, Rin decided to keep me company by doing some gardening in her own little way. She asked a question that made me remember part of my time with the ningen Kagome.

"Sesshomaru-sama, when do you think I will be able to play with Shippo?" At first I thought that she was might get too attached to him, but how many other children did she know? Yōkai or ningen? As I was about to say that I didn't know, Kagome's voice was back in my head.

"You have a play date with him in a month and a half," I said. I think she said 'play date'.

"'Play date' my lord?" Rin asked me with puzzled looked on her face.

"That is what the ningen called it. We will meet with them in the village next to the Bone Eater's Well in a moon and a half from now," I said before I turned my attention back to the scroll.

"Thank you Sesshomaru-sama," she said before I heard digging again.

I was trying to read when I heard the words "musume-san" again in her voice. I looked up at Rin and she seemed to have had a weed that was giving her trouble. _Musume._ I said to myself as I looked at her. The name still seemed to fit, but I couldn't call her that. I looked back down at my scroll and soon moved on to the next passage.

Now here we were. Camping outside of a ningen's village and there she was curled up in something called a 'sleeping bag' with the kitsune.

Why was it annoying me that the ningen who planned this wasn't here? I should consider myself lucky that I wasn't greeted by her voice the moment I made my presence known. Yet the day had seemed incomplete with her not there. I shouldn't care. I don't care.

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**Musume** – Daughter (musume-_san_ may be incorrect. Don't quote me)

**Ningen** - The word "ningen" translated from Japanese means "human".


	16. Chapter 16

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Chapter 16

"Ouch!" Miroku said as he closed his eyes and turned his head. With his head still turned sideways, he opened one eye and looked back.

Inuyasha picked himself up and went into a defensive stance. He stood across from Sesshomaru who was holding his own sword waiting for him. He stood still as he watched his half brother. Inuyasha changed the angle of Tetsusaiga and charged towards him as he let out a roar. Sesshomaru raised his sword and stopped the blow from coming down unto his head. The force of the blow pushed them both back over ten feet. With the block in place, Sesshomaru punched Inuyasha in the stomach and knocked his head back from under his chin. With their swords no longer touching, Sesshomaru brought his sword down on Inuyasha's right, causing the hanyo to move just in time to let Sesshomaru feel the blade of his sword slide down the sleeve of his fire rat coat.

"Yeah, Sesshomaru-sama!" Rin, Jaken and Shoppo said at the same time. Inuyasha looked over at the little kistsune.

"You little traitor!" Inuyasha shouted over at him. Shippo, showing no fear, stuck his tongue out at Inuyasha and his statement. Inuyasha started to walk over there when Sesshomaru raised his sword to block his path.

"Your time with me is not yet over," Sesshomaru informed him. They both looked at each other for a very long moment. Inuyasha then walked back to his side of the field.

"You put too much of your energy behind each blow which tires you quickly and you take too long to come back from each attack because of this. You have to learn how work with your sword also. You do not need that much brute force to use the Tetsusaiga. It is not just a chunk of metal for you to wave around. You already know about the Wind Scare, learn how to use it."

Sesshomaru now stood in a defensive position on his side of the field facing Inuyasha. "Attack me," he stated. Inuyasha stood on his side of the field looking at him. _Was he __serious__? Did he really want me to attack him with the Wind Scar?_ These questions were clear seen on Inuyasha's face as he look back at Sesshomaru. Believing that he did, Inuyasha placed Tetsusaiga before him. He looked at Sesshomaru until he saw the demonic winds flowing between the two of them. He raised his arms and screamed the words WIND SCAR as he brought his arms down as he cut thought the fissure where the winds collided aiming the attack, as much as he could, towards his brother.

Sesshomaru raised a barrier and waited out the passing of the Wind Scar. When he lowered it, he was standing on the only green patch of ground for half a mile starting from three feet in front of him.

"Better," Sesshomaru said as he slid his sword back into its scabbard. He then turned and walked towards Rin. She in turn stood and waited for Sesshomaru to come closer. "Rin, it's time for lunch," he said before he turned and walked towards the hut where Sango and Kouga had decided to stay instead of coming to watch them practice.

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama," Rin said as she started to walk after him with Shippo and Jaken in tow.

Inuyasha walked over and sat down on the ground next to Miroku, and laid Tetsusaiga down on his other side. He bent his head back against the tree's trunk and looked up into its leaves with his legs stretched out in front of him.

"I sucked when I practiced with him before too," Inuyasha said.

"When you were kids?" Miroku asked him a bit puzzled.

"Nah, I was already thirty-two at the time, but I'm still younger than him by over a hundred years. So to him I guess I am still a kid," Inuyasha turned his head to look at Miroku.

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"You did very well, all things considered," I told him. I reached out with the corner of one of my sleeves and wiped away some blood that still clung to his chin. I could see where the cut was that left the blood behind. It was already closed and was nothing more than a little red line.

"Are you upset?" I asked him. I wasn't sure of what else to say. I knew that he wouldn't want pity, and I also knew that he wouldn't want false praise either.

"No, not really," he answered then turned his head to look back up into the tree. "Even when he was younger he already had years on me with training with a sword. Now the gap is just a little bit bigger."

"It looks like you have been given a chance to make up for some of that lost time now," I said to him as I looked at his face that was constantly being covered and revealed due to the wind playing with his hair. "Do you want my hair band?" I asked him as he clawed another set of stray hairs out of his eyes.

"Thank you," he said as he held out a hand to me. I knelt at his side and lifted my left leg to turn completely to my right to bring the leg down on his right side with the use of his out stretched hand to steady me. While he smiled up at me, I reached a hand up and pulled my hair band from my hair as I sat down over his lap. Inuyasha leaned forward and rested his head on my chest as I felt his arms encircle my thighs. I gathered his hair to a point high on the back of his head, enjoying the feel of it sliding between my fingers, before I tied it in place.

My fingers then drifted to his face and tilted it back so I could place a small kiss on his lips. I kissed him again before he pulled me closer and deepened it. Our tongues meet and slid past and along each other. I pulled back and ran my fingers though his hair that tried to hide his eyes from me. He looked happy, and it warmed me to know that he was.

He reached up and gave me a quick kiss on my neck.

"I have to go now," he said.

"Kagome?" I asked him.

"Yes," he stated before he kissed part of my exposed arm.

"Will you tell her?" I asked him. I knew it had to be done, and I knew that it was mostly up to him as to when to tell her. I just wanted to know before he did, so I could be prepared for when I saw her.

"No," he answered in a low tone. "It's not the right time."

I kissed his forehead and then stood up to extend a hand down to him. He grasped my forearm and pulled himself up to stand inches from me.

"I'll meet you at the hut," he said before he gave me another quick kiss before he bent to pick up Tetsusaiga and turned to leave.

**- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -**

It was a bit early for me to go pick her up, but she may need help on the other side bringing some stuff back.

Now I almost wished that she would stay away a bit longer. _Yah I remembered that I made fuss with her for having to stay away for six days, but things have changed since then. Miroku changed everything._ His face from a moment ago came to mind then slowly faded as I realized that the well was coming into view. I jumped right into the well without a second thought. I slowly fell though the void that separated our times. _I will have to think of how I will tell her for when the right time does come._ The blue glowing void started to fade to black and soon I slowly touched down to the floor of the well.

I looked up and there was the roof. I crouched down and then pushed off. In one leap I was standing outside of the well. I took a deep breath then walked outside to find Kagome.

**- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -**

I was sitting outside looking at the contents of the bowl Rin had brought me. I think it's the same thing we had for dinner last night. _I guess I couldn't expect them to measure up to the kitchen at home._ I heard bells and thankfully looked up from the bowl to just see the monk coming out of the tree line.

"Is my half brother sulking?" I asked him out of curiosity when he got nearer and it was very apparent that he was alone.

"No," the monk said as he stood below me. "He left to fetch Kagome," he added before starting up the steps. "Did you wish to have a word with him?" he asked as he paused before going inside.

"No," I answered him, and then he left me.

_Kagome_.

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"Gees! How much stuff do you think we need?" I said as I dropped the two extra bags on the ground outside the well in my time.

"Quit complaining and come help me," she said from the bottom of the well.

"Here, take my bike first," she shouted up at me as she started to push it up against the wall of the well until I could bend down and reach it. I propped it up on the outside of the well then turned back to her.

"Here, past me your other bag," I said as I reached down. Instead of seeing a yellow bag coming up for me to catch, I felt her holding my hand.

"What do you think you are doing? You're going to fall trying to climb with all that!" I shouted at her as I pulled her up and over the edge.

"No I won't. I'm not a complete weakling," she said. She stood next to her bike for a moment then she looked at me. "Let's go," she said as she pushed off and headed down the hill with her faded, over stuffed, yellow backpack hiding most of her body.

I then looked down at the other bags she left behind for me to carry. There weren't really heavy, but they were big. _What did she bring this time?_ I lifted them and ran down the hill after her and towards the hut.

I was kinda glad see her happy after how we parted. When I meet her at home, she was happy then too. She hugged me before she turned me into a pack animal by telling me to carry all this stuff. I wasn't expecting the hug and blushed as I gathered them up. I saw her brother jab the old man as they looked at me. That was when I asked if she was ready to leave so I wouldn't have to stay too long with such ideas floating around with me there.

Her mom walked us to the well and handed a bundle to Kagome, which she then pushed into one of the bags I was holding before they hugged good bye. I went through the well first with the two extra bags, and then she came through with her bike.

Now we were on our way back to our friends and reacquainted family.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

I smelt the ningen before she came into view on the back of some kind of machine with wheels. She had a smile on her face as she came to a stop and looked up for my half brother. I didn't have to look to see that is was him she was waiting for. I didn't want to see him at that moment. For some reason I was far more interested in looking at her.

This was the first time that I had seen her in something other than that almost indecently short green and white skirt. She had on something that could loosely be called a hakama, except it looked all wrong. There were no openings at the sides. There was no body to it and the legs where too short. It showed off her shape more then it hid it. It was also a very uninspiring color of brown. It didn't even have a second color. At least her shirt tried to help redeem her for her bad choice of a hakama. It faded from blue at her neck, to white at her waist. Along one side the shirt was the word "Kago".

As they came closer, I heard my brother ask her what was in the bags.

"Just a few things that we ran out of and some new things," she said as she walked along side that wheeled thing that she held at her side.

"All of this is food?" my brother asked as he lifted a bag to smell it.

"No," she said as she laughed at his behavior. "I have some stuff in there for Rin and Sesshomaru."

_She got something for me?_

"Why did you get anything for him?" he asked.

"Why shouldn't I?" she asked him. "He's kinda part of our group now isn't he along with Rin? I'm not too sure about Jaken. I don't think that he would take anything from me," she looked a little disappointed at this. _Why? Jaken didn't need anything._

"Are they here yet?" she then asked Inuyasha.

_Weak ningen eye sight, she couldn't even see that I was standing here. _

"Yeah. They have been here since yesterday," he told her.

"Yesterday?" she asked. "Did Sesshomaru say how long they were going to stay?"

"No. I thought you would know since you were the one talking to him back then," he answered her.

_What was she thinking now?_

"Oh well. I just get to give them their gifts sooner than expected," she said with a smile on her face.

"I even have a gift for you," she said as she turned towards him with as smile across her face.

"You didn't have to get me anything," he said before he looked down as he walked on. _Blushing I'm sure. _

"It's nothing big and I know you want it," she said.

"Thanks Kagome," he told her when he looked back at her face.

She continued to smile as they walked the rest of the way in silence. A small prick of pain brought my attention to my left elbow where I realized I was digging my claws into it. I pulled my hands out of my sleeves and placed them behind my back.

They stopped at the foot of the steps as she leaned her machine against one of the floor posts.

"Inuyasha, can you take those bags inside for me please?" she asked him.

He turned and looked at her with an expression that completely lacked understanding.

"I want to talk to Sesshomaru-sama before I come inside," she said. I didn't miss the fact that she now added sama to my name now that she believed that I could hear what she was saying. Inuyasha turned and looked at me. He still didn't completely trust me for some reason. He walked up the steps and glared at me. Before he said something that would start a fight that he couldn't win I stopped him.

"I won't hurt your female Inuyasha," I told him. He then looked between both of use before we went inside.

I heard the commotion from him going inside laden with his baggage. I was surprised that I didn't have to step out of the way for the others to come outside and greet her. I'm sure my half brother had something do with that. I looked at her as she came up the steps.

"Good afternoon Sesshomaru-sama," she said.

I tilted my head in her direction.

"How have you been?" she asked politely.

"Well," I informed her. She then smiled. Her eyes closed and her face seemed to glow.

"In honor of you coming to visit us, I have some gifts for you," she said as she made her way past me and into the hut. I just stood there waiting for her to come back with these gifts that she talked about.

There was a general sound of happiness as she entered the hut. I tuned out most of the words and moved two paces in order to seat myself when I heard her voice again.

"Aren't you coming in?" she asked me.

"Come in?" I asked her with her head poking out from the hut's doorway.

"Yes, inside," she said. She came outside and took a hold of one of my hands that I had hanging at my side. She then tried to pull me inside. When I stood still in pure shock and didn't move she seemed to have realized what she did and dropped my hand. At least she had the decency to blush in embarrassment.

"Would you please come inside?" she asked me. The blush was still very present on her face making her look like a very healthy apple.

"You really want me to go inside?" I asked again as I looked at the curtain that I had yet to pass beyond.

"Yes," she said. "I want you to see the look on Rin's face when she gets her gifts."

Her eyes held that look again that made me think that I should be questioning a number of things. I tilted my head again and placed my arms back into my sleeves. She walked in front of me and held the curtain open. Maybe she thought that it would make it easier for me to step inside.

As I stepped in, the room went quite. I stood up and as expected the room was small and lacked a decent amount of light, but I guess I could get use to it. I looked around the room and saw that everyone was sitting in pairs except Jaken who seemed to have gotten as close to the humans as I've ever seen him, while still keeping his distance. The demon slayer was just about sitting in the lap of her yōkai wolf, while Rin was next to the kitsune and my brother was seated next to the monk. I walked over and sat next to a smiling Rin and waited for the gifts.

"Why is everyone so quiet for?" Kagome asked as she took a seat.

"He's never come inside before," the demon slayer informed her.

"You haven't?" she turned to asked me.

"You were the first to ask me," I told her, keeping my head high. After a few very quiet moments, the ningen pulled one of the bags towards her. She reached a hand up and wiped some hair that had fallen into her face, behind her left ear.

"Most of this bag I think belongs to Rin," she said before she looked up at the little girl and smiling at her before turning her attention back to opening the bag. Rin squealed in delight over the few items that she recognized and looked on in interest as the kitsune and ningen showed her how to use a few of the other things. Near the end of the bag, she was given a smaller bag of her own to hold most of the items. The sleeping bag she received seemed to be something that I will be carrying for her on Ah-Un.

A small flutter of movement behind the ningen's head caught my attention. My brother was…

"This is for you Sesshomaru-sama," she said bringing my attention back to her. "I also got you a sleeping bag. It's a very big one in case you would rather not take Rin's, and she can sleep with you for warmth on the cold nights," she said as she held out something that was rolled up and red. I had watched Rin as she inspected her own a few moments ago. I'm sure that my own would have a different color on the inside also. I took it from her and placed it by my side. She was looking at me. _Why was she just looking at me?_

"Thank you," I told her diplomatically. She continued to just look at me. _Was there something else to say? _"Thank you for all the gifts. On our next meeting I will repay you in kind." That's it. I couldn't think of anything else to tell her.

"Oh, I have more," she said in surprise as if it was a new idea. "It's nothing much. Just some wa-gashi that I thought you might like. I brought some for everyone, but no one has the same kind."

I looked at the box she had given me as she turned away to busy herself with giving out the others. I looked it over and turned it around in my hands. It seemed to be sealed behind something hard and clear. I could see the wa-gashi and they were all exceptionally well decorated. Each one had a different flower design on it. Colors faded into one another and were as brightly colored as any of my best silk garments hanging in my wardrobe at home.

I placed the box on the sleeping bag and stood. Everyone stopped and looked up at me. I looked at the ningen girl named Kagome.

"I will return," I said before I left the hut. I remembered that I had brought a silk shawl unintentionally when we left our home almost a week ago. I found Ah-Un grazing where we found him that morning. He was sitting under a large tree out of the afternoon sun. I petted him and moved to his small saddle bag and pulled out what I was looking for.

I soon re-entered the hut and Kagome stood to greet me.

"I remembered that I had this. Rin left the house with it and I packed it away so it wouldn't get damaged. It's not the best one that I have, but it's of a fine quality," I explained as I extended my hand that was holding the shawl. It's green, red and gold threads bounced what little light that it was able to find, back into the room. She took it from me with both hands.

"Thank you Sesshomaru-sama," she said as held it to her chest. She looked happy. I felt proud that I made her happy.

"If there are no more gifts, I will be outside," I said. I waited to hear if she had anything to say.

"No, that's it," she said smiling up at me. I then turned and walked back outside as I held on to a feeling that I hadn't felt in the years since my father's death. I moved away from the door and stood with my back against the wall.

"What a lovely gift," I heard the demon slayer say.

"What makes you so special to get a gift from Sesshomaru?" I heard my half bother ask her.

"I was nice to him," I heard the ningen say. "See, he isn't so bad if you try and treat him nicely."

"Why are you trying so hard for anyway?" Inuyasha asked her.

"He's your brother," she responded. "Besides, it's not that hard to be nice to him."

_Why did I feel disappointed? When did I raise my hopes up and what was I hoping for?_

I moved over to the corner of the porch and sat down in something of a shade. I looked over the trees, and the paths that moved away from the hut in three directions. I saw a distant mountain as a rain cloud passed over it and felt a calm as it possessed me. I breathed deeply and smelled the seven kinds of flower growing nearby, the blossoms and the bark of the tree that grew next to the house. I smelled the wood of the hut, the dust of the paths and the scent of each creature inside the hut at this moment.

**# ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ #**  


**Wa-gashi (wagashi)** - is a traditional Japanese confectionery which is often served with tea.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

"We will be leaving tomorrow," I said before I ate another bite of what was before me. I didn't know what it was, and in all my years I didn't think that I ever heard of it either. The ningen Kagome said that it came from the west. It didn't displease me, but it became something new for me to ponder over for a few moments.

"Tomorrow?" came a questioning reply. Of course it came from the ningen. _No one else would have bothered to question me. _

"Yes," I answered her after I sipped some of my tea. I looked over at her along with everyone else. When she continued to stare back at me, I felt all their eyes follow hers back to me.

"You asked Rin to be here for a 'play date' of one day. Tomorrow will make the third day. It is time we left." I looked at her waiting to see if she believed she had anything else to say on the matter.

"Oh," was all she could come up. She then went back to talking to Rin about what they would now do before she left. I went back to eating my meal. I heard footsteps as they come towards me crushing the grass with each step. Soon my half brother sat down next at my side and he ate his own meal in silence. It was after we had both finished and placed our bowls to the side did he speak to me.

"Thank you for teaching me how to use the Tetsusaiga better," he said. He wasn't looking at me when he said that, but over at the ningen female. I guess he was doing what she told him. He was trying to be nice to me. It's not that I disliked the idea. I never truly hated him like I showed in the past. I was just upset that my father had to die protecting him, and then he didn't do anything, that I saw, to honor our father's memory.

I looked over at him. I don't think that I've had a chance to look at him without having to correct him on something or listen to him argue with someone else. Father might have been proud of how he turned out, considering he has been on his own all this time. I had tried to take care of him for a time. I took him in and he lived with me for a few months. But for some reason he wanted to, or had to leave, and I in anger kicked him further out of my life then I really wanted, or at least further than I wanted to now, in hindsight.

"When will we do this again?" he asked.

"Do what?" I asked him as I was pulled out of my thoughts by his voice.

"Practice, talk, kinda act like we're family," he stated. He sounded like he was going to miss the time we have spent together. Images of the past two days slipped through my mind and I did think of them pleasantly.

"Perhaps in another month's time," I told him as I turned and looked over this little group. "I have business to attend to first. I have a land that needs governing." This answer didn't seem to change his mood much. "I'll have the servants clear out the east wing for you for when you come to stay."

"You want us to stay with you?" he asked after my words had sunken in. He was looking at me now and he seemed to be waiting for me to turn to look at him also. After a moment I did.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because I would rather eat my cook's food and sleep in my own bed," I told him. All the traveling I did was out of need, not want.

"Not that," he said. "Why are you being nice? Why are you doing all of this?" he asked.

I looked at him for a moment, thinking about how much I should tell him. I then decided to tell him what I thought he needed to know.

"We are bothers, and I have always tried to help you even when you didn't want, or knew of it. If you hadn't left the house all those years ago, we would have been closer by now. It's time that I tried to fix that again," I told him. _It seems he needed to know more than I first thought. _

This seemed to silence him and gave him something to think about. He lowered his head and his eyes took on a faraway look. Maybe he was thinking of why he left in the first place all those years ago.

I watched the group as the night wore on. The yōkai wolf had left a little after lunch time so that he would get back to his tribe by night fall. He seemed to have also gotten a gift or two more than the the wa-gashi that I saw him receive earlier that day. Jaken who had been tired out by the kids for most of the day had already gone back to our camp to sleep, with my permission of course. Inuyasha was talking to the monk a bit off from the rest of the group. The demon slayer and the ningen Kagome along with the kitsune where still talking and playing about with Rin.

When I saw Rin yawn and rub her eyes it was time for us to leave. I stood and dusted myself off before walking towards her. She looked up when she saw me coming.

"It's time for bed," I said.

"Yes Sesshomaru-sama," she said before starting to gather her stuff and follow after me. I looked back when she hadn't caught up with me to see her pulling the kitsune along. I stopped for a moment to look at him. _I guess it couldn't hurt._ I turned back around and walked to our camp site.

A few hours passed and I was still wake. I decided on a short walk around both campsites. It seems that someone else had decided to say outside tonight. The kitsune and Rin were in his sleeping bag again. Jaken was sleeping against Ah-Un, and our fire was blanketed for the night. I made a wide circle to make sure that they were safe before moving on to the next campsite. I did a wide walk to make sure that whoever was there was also safe. I then came in closer to see who it was. I smelled my brother and the monk and lust. _Lust?_ _Did I miss the smell of the ningen Kagome? Was there another female scent that I over looked for the stronger ones?_ I sniffed again. No. It was just those two. I stopped and walked toward the hut instead.

I checked the area around the hut before I went in for a closer look. Everything was quite, even if I did find a small demon lurking in a bush. It didn't have enough sense to stop scratching itself as it ran from the strength my yōkai. I stood looking in through a window like the guardian I had turned myself into for the night. They were sleeping side by side. They even curved in to face each other in their sleep. I stood watching them as they drew breath and turned a bit in their sleep before walking back to my own campsite.

"AAAHHH!" The sound shot right though me as I walked past the other campsite. One of them climaxed, and I heard the pure pleasure in their voice. At that moment a picture of Kagome blinked in my mind and then faded with the dying of the sound. I started to walk again as I shook the image from my mind and the feeling from my bones.

When I arrived at my own camp I leaned against my tree once again, and closed my eyes. Soon the scent of flowers filled my dreams as I watched black hair as it danced before me.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

The clock turns back for our story to continue.

I wanted to, so I was slowly kissing my way across his chest. I knew that I was waking him up. This may be a good thing or a bad thing. I don't know yet, but I loved the feel of his skin under my tongue. I slid down further between his legs as I used my tongue to follow the line of his last rib on either side of his body.

He was starting to squirm under my hands. I started to work on his belly button. I licked around it. I nipped at the edges before starting to lick it out. I slid my tongue down the very short wall and pushed at the floor before coming back up on the other side.

I felt his fingers as they slid into my hair and held me close. I rimmed his belly button again before pushing my tongue into him. He started to moan as I felt his cock twitch against my chest. I licked my way further down until I was kissing around the base of his cock. As I favored the left side of his cock for a moment, I felt it slide up the right side of my face as it grew harder. I felt my own cock twitch from the feeling that went down my spine and ended there from the feel of his cock gliding along my skin.

As the metal feel of his cock sliding into my mouth appeared, I felt his hands as they pulled my head up to his face. His lips crushed mine as he pulled me down. My body caved into his. I slid my lower half over his, rubbing both our cocks between our two bodies. Pre-cum caused us to slide along each other smoother and added another sensation for us to pick up on and enjoy. With very labored breaths we pulled apart. For a moment I saw his golden eyes before I closed my own and continued to slide up and down between his legs.

"I'm going to fuck you," he whispered into my ear before he pulled at my earlobe with his teeth. I felt his fang as it glided it over my ear ring. I shivered just from hearing his promise. He slid from under me and around my legs to kneel behind of me. He pushed on my lower spine to push my ass up more.

"AH!" His tongue was warm and soft. Probing and gliding. I pushed back against him to show I wanted more. I wanted him to push into me. My hands dug into the earth as I felt him force himself in. He licked around just on the inside. Almost, so close. I was breathing hard as he lifted his head away from me. As I waited for him, I recalled the feel of him inside of me, but the very real lack of him being in me was adding a new need to my desire.

"Inuyasha," I begged as I closed my eyes and pushed back a little. I felt his weight on me as he pressed his chest against my back before I felt his breath move over my ear.

"Turn over. I want to see your face," he said as I felt him starting to turn me with his hands on my waist. He kissed me before he lifted my leg up unto his shoulder. I felt him start to fill me. I watched him as he came closer. I felt as he went as far as he possibly could. I had to arch my back downward to help him reach as far in as we both wanted him to be. I looked into his face and watched his eyes as they shifted through darkening shades of red. His white hair was falling in sheets on either side of both our faces. I reached up to hold his head as he pulled out of me. I shuddered then froze in place as he slammed back into me. He was taking it really slow and on the forth thrust my whole body was itching with ecstasy. I just wanted him to go faster.

"Inuyasha, please go faster," I said a bit unsteadily before I finally reached his lips and kissed him. I felt his hands tighten and he did start to move faster. He was panting and sweat fell from his face and chest unto mine. I used one hand and wiped the sweat from around his eyes before he started to hit that spot. My hands went to his sides and I arched up into him, fleeing the sensation, but wanting more of it all the same. I felt him put me back in place as he fucked me again, and again, and again, and again. I started to sink into bliss.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes," I heard myself saying as I was pulled closer to coming. I leaned all the way back as I wrapped my free leg around his waist. _Come with me!_ My mind screamed at him. I just needed to feel his hot essence hitting my walls to make me come. His hand caught and pumped my cock a few times, and I came before him.

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!" That took me over the edge. As I clamped down on his cock he came in me and I felt as his fangs sank into the skin on my shoulder. _This was something new,_ my hazy mind noted. He was sucking on my blood. I felt it being pulled from my body. I started to feel light headed. Sleep pulled me down into its warm folds.

"Now stay asleep," Inuyasha said as he pulled me towards him to sleep on our sides wrapped in each other's arms.

Shorter than I remember but still good.


	20. Chapter 20

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

* 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 = Means that it's the same POV just a shift in time.

* * *

Chapter 20

I flat out refuse to eat what was called breakfast today. When Rin ran out with it for me, I questioned her as to what it was. She couldn't recall what it was named. It was something new from the ningen Kagome again. I do believe that there is more to her being different than just her clothing. She seems so out of place at times.

I was again sitting on the porch, in full shade, as I watched Rin run around with the kitsune as they played some game. My brother had yet to show his face along with the monk. Hopefully they were taking a bath to look presentable before showing their faces to the other humans in their group.

"Where are Inuyasha and Miroku? Their breakfast is going to be cold," I heard Kagome say as she stepped from the hut and looked in the direction that their camp had been. _Cold? I thought it came cold._

"Oh, Sesshomaru-sama," she said upon seeing me. "Good morning."

"Good morning," I replied. She came closer and knelt down next to me.

"You haven't seen Inuyasha or Miroku today have you?" she asked me.

"No," I answered.

"So when will you be leaving today?" she asked after a few moments.

"After lunch," I replied.

She stayed there, and looked out with me. She was wearing a longer skirt today. I think that the shirt was the same as the one she wore yesterday. I rather liked it. I can see that the back of the shirt had the word "weave" written there.

After awhile I noticed that she was looking at me.

"Yes?" I asked after a number of different reasons presented themselves for consideration and were eventually dismissed.

"It's nothing," she said as she turned her head away. Two minutes later she was looking me again.

"What are you looking at Kagome?" I asked her. Only after I said it did I realize that I said her name. I saw the color creep up her face before she bent her head.

"I'm sorry Sesshomaru-sama, it's really nothing," she said as she fiddled with something that was suddenly in her hands. "Please excuse me," she said as she got up and went down the steps. She took the path that lead to the hot springs. Maybe she wouldn't go that far if my brother is really there with his lover. I looked over in the direction a squeal came from. There were a number of things sticking up from Rin's hair as she was ticking the little kitsune who started to repeat the word "**sumanasou****"** over and over again.

I looked up at the sky and saw that we had a long way to go before it was noon. It was starting to look like I may have to send her for another bath before we left for home. _I guess it's possible to wait until __we got home unless she spilled something on herself. _

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"We shouldn't have been away so long," Miroku said again as we walked back to the hut.

"It wasn't like we did it on purpose," I told him. "We fell asleep."

"At least you don't have a practice session with Sesshomaru today. I wouldn't want to stand there to hear you tell him that," Miroku continued.

"Well, it's not that I would have told him that if I did have to meet him," I told Miroku.

"I..." I turned my head and pulled my hand from his.

"What is it?" Miroku asked as he went into a defensive stand as he looked around us.

"I heard something," I told him as I started to walk over to our left. "This way," I said as I started to walk past a row of bushes.

I stood still when I found her sitting in a small clearing. _What was she doing here and why was she alone? Was she alone?_ I waved my hand behind my back to keep Miroku away.

"Kagome?" I asked as I got closer.

"Oh, Inuyasha," she said as she looked up at me. "Where have you been?" she asked as she stood up.

"I was taking a bath," I told her.

"For so long?" she questioned.

"I can take a bath for as long as I like," I told her. "Besides, what are you doing out here by yourself?" I asked her to get the conversation off of me. I looked around the clearing to see if I could find any other signs to say that she wasn't really alone.

"I was just thinking about a few things," she said.

"Things like what?" I asked hoping to keep her thinking about something else, other than where I've been for most of the morning.

"I..." She stopped and looked at me. "You do not have to know, and where is Miroku?" she asked as she placed her hands on her hips.

"I don't know," I lied. "He left camp before me." That was actually true. "Maybe the monk is off meditating," I said to get her to end her questioning.

"Let's go," she said as she walked past me. "But you will have no one to blame but yourself if there is no breakfast left when you get there."

I just walked behind of her as we exited the trees. I saw Rin and Shippo running around with parts of plants sticking out of their hair. Sango sat next the hut in a grassy spot sharpening her hiraikotsu, and Sessuhomaru was looking at me as he sat on the porch.

I followed Kagome into the hut and nodded to Sesshomaru as I passed him. He nodded back before he speared a moment to look at Kagome and then turning his attention back to following Rin. I ducked my head into the hut and looked up to see Miroku eating. I smiled at him before Kagome stepped in between the two of us.

"And where have you been?" she asked him. He finished chewing what was in his mouth and swallowed before he answered her.

"I was meditating," he said before he took another spoonful into his mouth.

"See? I told you that that must have been what he was doing," I chimed in. "What I would like to know is what just happened?" I asked her as I sat down next to Miroku.

"What happened?" he asked as I took his bowl from him and got my own spoon. "Something happened?" he asked again as he looked at me.

"Sesshomaru gave her an odd look when we passed him outside," I said before quickly placing two spoons full in my mouth and chewed as I watched Miroku watching her. When I heard her shifting under his gaze I looked in her direction.

"Nothing happened. I thought of a dumb question and I couldn't ask him," she said.

"What kind of dumb question?" I asked her before I put another spoon full into my mouth. I was really hungry.

"I said it was a dumb question. So I'm not about to tell you," she said.

**- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -**

"It's so dusty that I can barely see what's going on," Kagome said as we sat on this side of the field under the shade.

We were back at the same field that Inuyasha and Sesshomaru were practicing in the day before. Due to the wind scar that he used, the earth was no longer covered in grass and small shrubs. The lack of rain for the past week also helped in turning the immediate area into a waste land of swirling dust.

I saw a flash of red as Inuyasha jumped up into the air. The glint of a sword made its way through the dust to pull my eyes downward. I heard nothing to make me think that it made any kind of contact.

Despite our earlier talk about him not having a practice session with his brother, Sesshomaru, seeing that Inuyasha was doing nothing of great importance, told him to follow him and bring his sword. Everyone, who turned out to be just Rin, Shippo and myself, heard Inuyasha question Sesshomaru with a loud "Why?".

"You appear to have time for another sparing match," Sesshomaru answered before he turned away and walked on believing that Inuyasha would follow him and he did after a moment of looking at his back. The rest of the group managed to arrive here before either had attacked the other.

Once again we all looked up as we saw Sesshomaru hover in the air before he went back down into the growing dust cloud to continue his lesson with Inuyasha.

Kagome, Sango and I started to place bets as to how much damage Inuyasha could inflict on Sesshomaru. We all knew and believed that Sesshomaru would come out on top, but we held out hope for our friend in not letting Sesshomaru finish this lesson without him leaving some kind of mark on him.

I'm sure pride and growing love caused me to place the highest expectation on him. I said that he would actually leave a scratch on his face, or drawing blood of some kind. Sango said Inuyasha hadn't gotten that good yet, but conceded to the fact that he might be able to cut his clothes. Kagome just said that if he was lucky he would able to trip him.

We all watched a bit more intently as we each looked for something to prove that we won the bet. We each swore that we saw what we wanted to see, but had to wait until they had finished to really know what happened.

Out of swirling dust they walked. It felt like no great deal of time had passed, but I knew it was longer than I believed. Inuyasha looked like he was really in a battle. His hair was a mess, and he had a few scratches coving his face. He walked with a slight limp, but I wasn't worried. Across his face was a big smile. I then looked at Sesshomaru. He was dusting off his side that showed that was indeed tripped. He had a few ruffled pieces of clouting and on his left check was a quickly healing cut. I let a small grin play on my features. He did it. He was able to draw blood from his perfect nii-chan.

"Sesshomaru-sama, did you win?" Rin asked him as she ran up to him all smiles.

"Of course," he told her.

"Ya, but I got a few good moves in there," Inuyasha said smiling at him. "You guys should have seen it when I knocked him down."

Sesshomaru looked at him then. I expected him to say something, not just what he did say.

"I taught you well," he said as he almost smiled. "But you still have a lot to learn. You will have a month to practice until we meet again," he said before he turned and headed back to the hut with Rin and Shippo running in front of him and Jaken walking behind of him.

"Good going Inuyasha," Kagome said as she hugged him. A little too long for my liking, but he didn't seem to notice. He was just enjoying his little victory. I looked down the path to see how far they had gotten to see Sesshomaru turn and continue to walk away from us. He was probably impatient for us to follow.

"Kagome, what can we have today to celebrate Inuyasha's win?" I asked as I turned back to the group.

"Win? He didn't win," she remarked. "But he did do very well," she added. "Let's have instant noodles to celebrate everything," she suggested. "For Inuyasha's fighting improvement and to mark Sesshomaru and Rin's last meal with us," she said as she looped her arm with his and then turned with us as we started walking down the path towards the hut.

**- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -**

The 'instant' noodles weren't bad. They smelled interesting enough to try, and I found myself not being disappointed by their taste. The kitsune talked during the first half of the meal of how this was my brother's favorite food and that Kagome brought them for him. _Where did she bring them from?_ Was a question that I wanted to ask him, but at the same time I didn't want to show that much interest. True to the kitsune's words, Inuyasha was the first to finish his share and was asking for more. _Show a little restraint._ I told him in my head. _Act like you have some pride._ I looked at Kagome as she gave it to him anyway, smiling as she did.

"Sesshomaru-sama," Rin said as she came closer.

"Yes, Rin," I answered her.

"May I have a nap with you before we leave?" she asked as she rubbed her eyes. I nodded my head and she curled up on my lap and was soon fast asleep.

"Locate Ah-Un and start packing," I told Jarken as I looked up from Rin.

"Yes My Lord," he said before he bowed and went off to find the beast. He had gotten use to the sight over the past year and no longer showed the strong feelings he had against it.

I looked down at Rin again and moved some of her wayward strands back to where they were suppose to be. I reached down and picked up the cup of tea that I was drinking, before she interrupted me and looked over at the rest of the group. The monk looked like he was meditating, but he could be sleeping for all I cared, while Inuyasha went back to eating his begged for meal when I met his eyes. The demon slayer lowered her eyes promptly when I met them with my own, but Kagome didn't. She didn't lower her eyes or look away. She was looking at me and continued looking at me as I looked back at her. She had a soft smile on her face, and then her eyes sparked.

"I'll go pack the sleeping bags and such for you," she said as she started to get up.

"I'll help you Kagome," the demon slayer said as she stood quickly with her. I don't know how long I was doing it, but I realized as I felt the strands moving under my fingers that I was stoking Rin's hair as she slept.

"I never thought that I would see the day that a cold bastard like you would show so much care for a human, never mind another being," Inuyasha said with no one around to hear him but me.

"I'm not a bastard, you are. Or have you already forgotten?" I asked with a level gaze. "But what actions you considered to be cold, as you put it, were nothing more than what was needed to be done." I did not want to start that old fight and continued to move the conversation away from our parentage. "Rin is my ward by her own choosing. I am honor bound to take care of her and protect her. Nothing in me has changed. Perhaps you never saw what was there all the time." I let my words sink in as I took another sip of my tea. It was starting to lose its warmth.

Inuyasha got up and left me with the meditating monk. I looked back down at my hand that was still making it way over Rin's hair.

"He may still make you proud enough to one day call him uncle," I told the sleeping child quietly.

I lifted my mokomoko from over my shoulder and laid it over Rin as I sat further back unto the tree. I sensed Kagome coming, but she seemed to have stopped behind the tree for some reason. Soon she moved again and I saw her appear with the bag that she had presented to Rin seemly full of the other treats and gifts she gave her that day, and my own gift of the sleeping bag. I assumed that she packed my wa-gashi in Rin's bag also.

"I packed everything for you," she said as she sat down next to me and placed the things at my side.

"Thank you," I told her. _I seem to be telling her that a lot lately._

She smiled and looked over at Rin. Her head did a slight twisting movement as she continued to look at her. I looked down at Rin and saw nothing different. I curled my mokomoko around her a bit tighter feeling that I couldn't sense that there was something wrong with her.

"You can move it? It's part of you?" Kagome asked as she looked from Rin and my mokomoko back to me.

"Yes," I answered. _Of course I can move it._ It was part of me like a leg or an arm.

"I always thought that it was just decorative," she confessed as her gaze found its way back to it and the sleeping child.

"It's a "gift" from my father. It proves that I'm the first born and heir to everything that was his," I wasn't sure why I told her. I guess it was because no one had ever shown any interest in it before unless it was aiding me in ending their life.

She was looking at me again with the same faint smile from before. She was starting to remind me of Rin when she did that. _A dark haired ningen female that needed my protection_. For a moment I saw her running beside Rin in the vast garden at my home. I shook the image from my mind. _She wouldn't seek my protection and why would I want her to? _She was rather odd for a human and that alone could cause more problems than her skill with a bow and arrow would be worth.

I finished my tea before it turned completely cold on me and waited for the right time to wake Rin with Kagome sitting by my side.

**- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -**

Jaken stood next to Sesshomaru as Rin was saying good bye to us. She had on the cute little back pack on that I had gotten for her. Sesshomaru was holding his sleeping bag, but I'm sure that he would soon attach it to that beast of his, and not carry it all the way to his home.

I waved at them both as I wished them a safe journey. I stopped and stood as I watched them leave. The afternoon sun gave them long shadows off to their left. The wind blew his hair up and around his shoulders and then it fell back neatly in place along the length of his back as if there hadn't been a breeze at all.

He then turned and looked at us. _What was he looking at?_ Jaken stopped and looked back also, but he didn't seem to find anything interesting and stood still looking at Sesshomaru, while he continued to look our way.

"Sango, what is Sesshomaru-sama looking at?" I asked as I turned to face her and saw that she wasn't there. I looked to my other side to see that I was the only one still standing there. I did a quick 180 to see the curtain for the hut fall back into place. I turned back to face the way I was before to see the top of Sesshomaru's head as it dipped below the height of the hill.

**# ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ #**

**Sumanasou** – sorry; apologetic; remorseful (there are a lot of different ways to say sorry in Japanese, I hope I picked the right one.)

**Nii-chan** – familiar form of 'older brother'.

NOTE - Kagome can mean basket weaves or everlasting light and in Hiragashi it can mean sunset. If you picked up on what I was doing with her shirt in this chapter and two back you will see that she was/is wearing a shirt that reads Kagome in two parts. I translated one half to English to make it that much harder. :)


	21. Chapter 21

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

* 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 = Means that it's the same POV just a shift in time.

* * *

Chapter 21

Gold colored eyes looked at me as they called my name.

"Kagome." They held strength and power.

"Kagome." They came closer and I felt my body backing away. They crinkled in concern and said my name again.

"Kagome."

"Kagome."

"Kagome," it sounded closer now. It sounded different. The eyes started to fade as I felt my body being rocked.

"KAGOME!" The voice shouted in my ears.

"AH!" I screamed as I was ruefully woken up. I looked up into lightly honey colored eyes. These weren't the eyes that were there before.

"There, she's awake," Inuyasha said as he walked away to show Sango standing close by.

"I called you to see if she was sick, not to scare her," she said as she made her way over to me.

"What's going on?" I asked as I stood with the helping, but unneeded, hand of Sango.

"You over slept," Inuyasha said as he sat down.

"I thought something might be wrong. You don't normally sleep so long," Sango told me as she placed her hand on my forehead.

"I'm fine," I told her. "What time is it?" I asked her as I looked around.

"Half the morning is already gone," she told me.

"Half the morning?" I asked in a loud and expectedly surprised tone as I looked at her. "Why didn't you wake me?" I asked as I started to hunt through my bag for my toothbrush, wash cloth, toothpaste and cup.

"I tried. You wouldn't wake up," Sango said to me in a much firmer tone.

"Oh," I kinda whispered to myself. "I'm sorry," I said to her as I stood with my things in my hand. "I'll go get ready now. I'll hurry back so we can leave soon," I shouted back at them as I made it past a short tree going towards the river.

**- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - **

"I'm amazed," Miroku said as I sat down next to him

"At what?" I asked him.

"That you weren't sueru for waking her up like that," he said.

"You're right," I said as I looked in her direction. "Maybe she is sick," I said.

"I told you," Sango said from her side of the camp at me.

"She didn't smell sick," I said in my defense.

"She might just be tired," Miroku added to the conversation. "She's been acting this way for a week since that fight we had with the bog demon that held her captive for a few hours." He paused as he scratched the back of his head. "Maybe the barrier drained her or something."

We all now had a different type of concern etched across each of our faces. Sango's face was covered in concern for her only female friend. Miroku's look was less of concern and more of pondering a problem. Shippo who didn't seem that concerned, and didn't say anything, before he went back to playing with his top as he tried a new spell on it. I had a bit of guilt with my concern for her. It was my fault that she was in the barrier for so long. I thought that she was safe in there, and didn't try to get her out. Instead I focused on trying to get the shard from the demon that caught her in the first place.

Granted it had taken a while to find her in the first place after she was captured, but maybe if I had gotten her out a few minutes sooner, she would be more like herself. Or maybe something else is wrong with her.

"I'll ask Sesshomaru if he can have his healer give her a look to make sure that nothing it really wrong with her if she keeps acting like this," I said as I laid down on the grass and looked up at a few passing clouds. It could have been a good day if this problem with Kagome hadn't come up.

**- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - **

"I, I, I..." I screeched as my hands went back into the cold moving stream. I dunked my face cloth in a few times and rung it out before I wiped it down my face. Over my fore head, down the side of my face then back up to my forehead again before going down the other side. One quick dunk before I wiped it down my nose, over my mouth and across my chin. I dunked it again and rung it out. I wiped down my neck and around my breasts. I washed it out a few times before I got on with the rest of my cleaning.

I took my cup and rinsed it out before half filling it. I propped it up on a flat area on the bank then turned to putting some toothpaste on my brush. I looked around as I brushed my teeth. There wasn't anything truly interesting about the area we were passing through. My mind drifted as I worked on the one side of my mouth. Part of my dream started to come back to me, but I didn't really see anything. Just the outline of a person with long hair and a feeling of not feeling afraid, if you could understand it. The figure stood there and I wasn't afraid of them or what they might mean.

A crow squawked over head and I was brought back to the present. I reached for the cup and rinsed my mouth out. It wasn't so cold now which was good. I gathered my things up and started to walk back to camp.

Today was going to be a good day. I could feel it. Maybe I can talk Inuyasha into catching something a bit more substantial than a few rabbits for dinner.

"I'm done," I said as I entered camp. "Just give me a few minutes to pack up then we can get going," I said as I put everything I had back into my bag expect the cloth which I looped through the strings on the outside, so it could get a chance to dry. I started to hum nothing in particular as I picked up, dusted off my sleeping bag and rolled it up to put it in my bag.

"She seems ok," Shippo said

"Of course I'm ok," I said as I smiled over at him.

I stuffed it in and clipped it close. I reached round the side to one of its pockets and pulled out a granola bar. I heaved the bag onto my back, not that it was heavy, just big. I ripped open the packaging and took a big bite before folding it up and putting it into my pocket.

"Come on Shippo, hop on," I said to him as I walked over to my bike. I waited until he was seated in the basket before looking at the others.

"See?" I said proudly. "Ready in no time."

**- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - **

Today Kagome woke up with everyone else, but she still didn't seem like she was completely normal still. We have been lucky not to have had to fight anyone one for the last two shards we got. One was buried and needed to be dug up. It took us almost a whole day to get it out. After we retrieved it, we all voted to walk until we found a stream before we set up camp for the night.

The next shard was being looked after by a valley king. He was an impressive 55 foot long cat fish that hid it under a rock in the river that he lived. At the start of our meeting with the great fish, Inuyasha thought that he was stalling and was about pull his sword on him when Kagome sueru him unto a rock. When he got up, he was bleeding from the right side of his head. They got into an argument and when we all realized that the valley king wasn't an evil demon, because he tried to stop them from arguing Inuyasha left and said that Kagome could talk to the fish herself and that she didn't need him. I saw him bound away, but I knew he didn't go far. He was out of sight, but not out of reach. There is no way he would really leave her.

I offered to go talk to him and bring him back, and Sango stayed to keep an eye on things until we came back. I was right, he was just a few large trees into the surrounding woods wiping the blood from his face. I walked over and kissed his forehead close to where the cut had been. We talked for a few minutes until he felt better, and when we got back to the others he apologized and so did Kagome.

This seemed to have impressed the catfish and it may have helped him in deciding to give us the jewel shard. He talked to us at length before he let us have it. He said that he knew that the power of the shard came with a price. A price that no everyone expects and what even fewer can pay. I asked him why he didn't use it. He simply said that he has no wish for any more power than he currently had, and on days it was more than he wanted.

When we parted we wished each other guidance and a long a life as Kami would allow. I liked talking to the old fish, but that didn't stop me from eating my share of a very fishy meal that just about everyone had a hand in catching and preparing that night.

Kagome tripped next to me as she was walking by, quickly bringing me back to the here and now. I reached a hand out and steadied her. It was the fourth time that morning. She walked on ahead after thanking me, and started talking with Inuyasha who was his usual distance ahead of us on the road.

"That's the fourth time for the day she's tripped," Sango said as she fell into step next to me.

"You have been counting too?" I asked her without looking in her direction.

"It's hard not to," she replied. I shook my head and we walked on with Kirara trotting beside of her. For once Shippo was with Inuyasha. He was holding on to Kagome's bike today and Shippo was walking beside it.

"How long do you think Sesshomaru will let us stay at his home?" Sango asked me.

"I don't know," I told her. "Do you want me to ask Inuyasha for you?" I offered. She seemed to think it over for a moment.

"No, I'll ask him myself," she answered. Then she turned and looked at me.

"What?" I asked, instinctive raising both my hands for her to see.

"That," she said.

"That?" I asked her as I lowered my hands and raised an eyebrow.

"You haven't tried anything in months," she answered.

"Do you wish to see me killed by your mate-to-be?" I asked her with a chuckle.

"No, at least not anymore," she admitted.

"That wounds me my dear Sango," I told her with a look of false hurt in my eyes.

"You also seem to be spending more time with Inuyasha too," she said, continuing to list my new habits.

"Well I can't be with you anymore, and I know that I can't try anything on Kagome. Who else do I have left to talk to in our little group?" I asked her. "Or do you think Kagome wouldn't really mind?"

I looked at the twitching ears on my Inuyasha's head. I will have to explain this little conversation to him later I figured, not that I truly mind. I was looking for a reason to kiss him lately. We may have been spending enough time together that Sango notices, but we haven't gone off or done anything that took time since Sesshomaru's little visit. A few stolen kisses here and there that left me hotter than I was before. A few brushes of our hands over some part of each other, while no one was looking as we passed one another.

Only once since we have been on road, I was able to give Inuyasha any kind of real personal attention. He begged me for a blow job and that got me as turned on as giving the blowjob itself. I stoked myself off while I sucked him clean. Then we had to finish with our bath to get back to the girls before one of them or Shippo came looking for us.

"I take that back," Sango said as she walked away from me. "You are still a perverted monk," I grinned at her retreating backside. In truth, I now had three lovely backsides to gaze at along with the rest of nature's beauty. Sango's long silhouette, Kagome's long bare legs thanks to her poor excuse of a skirt, and the red cad behind of the one I just wanted to hold at night these days. A memory of the last time I kissed that behind flashed though my mind. Our conversation later will have to be a bit more than just me explaining what he heard today. As if he knew I was thinking about him, I soon heard his voice.

"What are you doing back there monk?" I heard him ask. He hardly ever called me by my name in front of the others. Which was fine by me, it just made me enjoy hearing him say my name even more enjoyable, when he did call it.

"Nothing, just enjoying the view," I said. _And what a lovely view it is_.

"Pervert," I heard Sango say again.

"Hmp," Inuyasha added before he turned his head back to facing the road. Kagome was quite like she hadn't heard what was going on at all.

"What did you expect him to say Inuyasha?" Shippo piped up from his side of the road. "Now you have embarrassed Sango and Kagome. Kagome is so shocked thinking of what Miroku said that she can't say anything." At this Inuyasha reached over and hit him on the head.

"Watch your mouth," he said as his hand came down.

"AAHHhh..!" Shippo exclaimed as he started to rub his head. At this Kagome seemed to have come back to us.

"Inuyasha! Osuwari!" she said and walked away from his falling body that was somehow still propping up her bike. "He's just a child!" she shouted back at him as she bent to pick Shippo up after they were clear of him. I came to a stop next to him and waited for him to get up.

"Are you ok?" I asked him

"Ya, I'm just fine," he said before pushing himself up and staring to walk next to me with her bike.

We now had a week left before we were due at Sesshomaru's home and we were on our way back the hut to drop off a few things and get a few other things before we headed in that direction. The girls wanted to take some of their better pieces of clothing with them. Being a monk, I didn't have a wardrobe to pick and choose garments from, but I could pack one or two of my better sets of robes for the upcoming event. I don't think that Inuyasha has anything different or more than his fire rat kimono and undergarments. Maybe he will wash it before we leave the hut.

*** 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0**

"Inuyasha, you have to wash that!" Kagome shouted as she kicks him out of hut and throws a brick of soap after him. I raised an eyebrow as I looked at him scooping up the blue brick of soap. He looked over at me and tossed the soap up and down a bit. _Was he thinking of throwing it at me? Well we still haven't had that talk yet._

"Inuyasha, I'll be right with you." I said as I started to back away and then run towards the hut. I ducked under the curtain and stood as still as I've ever stood in my life. They looked at me, I looked at every part of them that I could without even thinking.

"Ahmm… I came for some soap," I told the two frozen ladies.

"AAAAAHHHHHH!" "PERVERT!" "LEACH!" "GET OUT!" "DON'T LOOK!" "LEACH!" "GET OUT!" "DON'T COME NEAR ME!" "PERVERT!" "GET OUT!"

"I just want my dirty robes and a brick of soap," I said as I tried to reach for the one I saw that was next to Kagome.

"No you don't monk!" I heard Sango said before I felt something as it hit me. I was knocked on my side and was sent flying across the floor.

"Really, I just want to do some washing," I said as I started to get up. Before I was standing upright I felt something hit me again and I was sent flying out of the hut and over the steps. I turned and rolled on my side when I hit to ground to keep any one part of me from getting the full force of the fall. I came to a stop lying on my back and I stayed like that for a bit. I was looking up at the sky as I heard him walking towards me.

"Something went wrong?" Inuyasha asked me as he bent over my face.

"Yes, I think so," I said as I laid there.

"Do you need help getting up?" he asked me when I didn't move.

"No, I want to wait for a bit," I looked more into his eyes. "Can I have half of your brick of soap?" I asked him.

"You have something to wash?" he asked me. He then looked around for something. "I didn't see you come out with anything," he said as he looked back down at me.

"Just what I'm wearing it seems," I told him. I sat up and gauged how my head felt. "Ok, we can go now," I told him as I started to stand.

"What did she hit you with?" he asked as we walked down the path.

"I think she used Hiraikotsu on me," I answered.

When we got to the washing part of the stream, which was a ways down from the rest of the village, Inuyasha used a rock to break the brick into pieces for us to share. He didn't say anything as we stripped off our outer clothes and started to wash them. I had wanted him to ask me first about the talk I had with Sango that morning, but it looks like he wasn't going to bring it up.

"About this morning," I started as I flipped my purple robe over to find the stain I saw when I took it off. "I was just giving Sango an answer that she would understand," I said. I paused and looked over at him. He was banging his hitoe into a large rock he had found half submerged in the stream. "Are you mad at me?" I asked him.

He stopped and looked at me. He then turned his attention back to washing his jacket.

"No, I'm not mad at you," he said. "I want to let them know, or at least not have to hide it, but I know it's not time to tell them yet," he said as he continued to beat the jacket against the rock. I had an idea of what else he was thinking, but didn't say. I walked over to him and hugged him from behind. I buried my nose into hair until I touched the back of his neck then placed a kiss there.

"To think that I asked you if you would have a problem letting others know about us and you turn out to be the one having the hardest time not telling. An ironic turn of events is it not?" I asked in the end.

"Don't you want to tell anyone now?" he asked me with his head bent.

"Of course I do. I would love to go to sleep with you every night and wake up in your arms every morning. I haven't felt so loved in a very long time, and I feel that love every time I fall asleep in your arms. I also understand that doing that now would hurt Kagome more than we would ever want to," I kissed the back of his neck again. "I wait because I have too," I told him.

He reached a hand up and held on to one of mine. I held his hand as I moved around him to sit down on his hitoe in front of him. I slide my other hand around neck and moved my fingers into his hair. I pulled his face forward and kissed him. He needed to kiss me right now, and I wanted to kiss him. He deepened the kiss before I did and was soon pushing me back against the rock. My other hand was left to be pressed against his damp chest. My head and chest were being pushed down, while I was pushing my lower half up to him. I slid my hand from his chest to under his arm and around to this back. I soon felt his hands on either side of my face as he eased up on the kiss and started to suck and nibble on my lips.

Soon I felt his lower half as he pushed back against me, placing me between a rock and a hard place. _Can we really do this?_ My mind went through what or who could stop us now. _Shippo? At Kaede's. The girls? Still trying out outfits and due to my little interruption they wouldn't come looking for me or us anytime soon._ I slide my hand down to his hot ass and pulled him even closer. I felt him nip at my jaw when he felt my hand pulling on him down there. I knew that my fundoshi was being strained my cock when Inuyasha wasn't pressing down and rubbing his cock against mine. When I started to miss his weight the cloth pulled back against me. That turned me on each time letting me enjoy his weight when it returned even more. I opened my legs for him and he slid into me. My fundoshi might as well not be there now. The heat from both our bodies, and the rubbing with the pressure of his weight, was almost enough to make me come. But I wanted him to posses me. I wanted to remind him that he had me.

"Inuyasha," I breathed as I pulled our lips apart.

"You want me to have you?" he asked as he panted above me.

"You already have me. I want you to take me," I looked into his eyes, burning a darker gold, as they now hinted with a shade of red. He pulled his fundoshi off before getting rid of mine. He kissed me again as he lifted my knees. He kissed the side of my knee. He licked down the inside of my thigh. He bent his head down and sucked on my balls each in turn, then did it a second time before moving on. My arms went out from my side and gripped the rock that I was laying back on.

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I was starting to drown in the smells coming off of Miroku. He gave me the right to have him, and I knew he meant it for more than just this moment.

I licked the warm patch of skin below his balls before I went lower to prepare him for me. He was starting to shake in my hands and I had to hold him tighter as I rimmed him before pushing my tongue into him. I growled as I felt him tighten around my tongue. I pulled my tongue back and kissed him here, letting the growl move into him. My ears twitched and I smirked as I started to lick him again. He was panting as rapidly as his heart was beating. I also felt his blood speeding past my hands in his veins.

I pushed my tongue back into him and moved it around to get him ready. I can feel my pre-cum as it bubbled out of me and slid down my legs. I lifted my head and looked down at him with his eyes screwed shut with the sweat on his skin making him shine. I heard his breathing deepen as I looked at his chest to see its rapid movements lessen. I lowered his body to lean myself against my legs so I could use one hand to rub some cum over my cock. _It felt so good._

All of my senses were filled with him. I smelled him all around me, I tasted him in my mouth, I could hear his breathing, and it starting to pick up again. I looked down at him to see him looking back at me. His skin was heating up again. He was thinking of how I was going to make him feel. He was looking at my hand as it moved over my cock getting it ready for him. I was going to try my damnedest to make sure that he would remember this until the next time we were able to lay next to each other. I shifted his weight and pointed my cock at his tight ring that was just puckering in wait for me. I wrapped my arms around his legs and pulled him up to me as I pushed down. I almost felt his voice was my own when he screamed at my entry. I slowly pulled out as let him fall from me. Just before I would have pop out of him I gripped his thighs and pulled him back to me as I pushed down again. He screamed again but it was half lost in a deep moan. _Oh this was so good._

Slowly we separated again, and again I pulled us back together. This time I moaned with him. I did it again and knew I couldn't do it again. I hunched down over him and I held him closer to me as I started to move faster. I pumped into him as quickly and as deep as I could. His moaning and the twisting of his body in my arms were keeping me going. His moaning quickened my blood. His hot skin that was dancing under my hands sent shivers of desire into my body. I was going to come soon. I saw the light of ecstasy as it started shine in my eyes.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I held on to him and pulled him onto me as I pushed deeper and deeper for each jerk of my climax. That pushed him into his own climax. I felt his ass squeeze and hold on to me as the smell of his cum filled the air along with his own scream of pleasure. I opened my eyes to see his body arch and then settle down to rest on the rock. I pulled out of him when he had let go of me and looked him in his eyes as I held out my hand to him. He took it and sat up with his legs on either side of me. I kissed him and wrapped my arms around him.

"I love you Miroku," I told him. I pushed my fingers through the hair at the top of his neck. I felt his arms as they moved around my waist and held me.

"I love you too Inuyasha," he tells me. I can hear the sincerity in his voice and I pull him closer.

**# ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ #**

**Sueru** – (the closet that I could find to _sat_) to seat (someone)


	22. Chapter 22

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Chapter 22

"Well here we are," I said as we stood at the gate to my brother's home. I know that he once said that it was mine also, but I never felt like it was really my home despite the few months I lived here.

"Why did you leave here?" Miroku asked as he continued to look in awe with the others. "Was he the same back then too?"

"Not really," I said as I started to move forward. I stopped then I started walking again. _No one should stop us, we were invited._ We slowly walked up the long path that curved around a great lawn that had a large weeping red willow in the middle. "Back then he seemed to be trying to be nice to me, but every now and again I saw his eyes when he looked at me. He hated me and I felt cold," I said without thinking. The memory came back and those were the words I used to describe them.

"So that is why you left?" Sango half said, half asked.

"Partly, I left for Kikyo. More like I left to find someone like her. I just didn't know it at the time. I had heard of the Shikon no Tama and thought that Sesshomaru might accept me better if I was a full demon like him. I was gone four years before I found her and the jewel. I tried to get the jewel, but that didn't work. For a moment I thought about using the Shikon no Tama to be fully human, but that didn't work out either." I stopped in front of the main door and I realized what I had been saying.

_Great, I can feel their pity in waves._ I turned to look at them. Shippo was just looking at me in curiosity. _How much of my story did he know? _The girls were ones dumping their pity on me.

"Would you just keep your pity to yourself?" I told them. I was about to look at Miroku when a voice pulled my attention back to the door as I heard it being opened.

"Inuyasha-sama," an old lady in her middle years said before she bowed. "Sesshomaru-sama is in the meeting room waiting for you. Please come in." I walked into the house and waited for the others to follow. I didn't know her, but I didn't think that I would know anyone here anymore. Being pinned to a tree for fifty years doesn't give you much of a chance to still find humans, who you once knew, still alive.

When everyone had made their way inside, she closed the door and then started to walk down the main hallway. As we followed her, we walked past two sets of door until we got to the last one after a long wall that a number of paintings hung from. A few of the paintings were portraits. I didn't look at them. I would have more time later to remember the people I saw there and remember their stories that were told me. I looked at the lady as she knocked on the door then stepped in. I heard her tell someone in the room that we were here. I assumed it was Sesshomaru since he didn't answer. She came back out and said that we could go in now. She opened the door and stepped back to let us pass.

I was the one in the front, so I guess I had to go in first.

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Inuyasha was the first to enter the room. My nose twitched and I knew the offender was that rat hair kimono of his. It seems to have recently received a wash, but it still needed three more days of proper washing before it could no longer give him away by smell. Next was the monk, who I also smelt coming from brother's direction, and him from his.

He didn't look worse for ware, considering he was now bedding a demon, half-blooded or not. I nodded in their direction, but I did not look to see if they returned the gesture. Next to walk in was Kagome. She was dressed in a light pink shirt that was wrapped around her along her torso after it crossed over her breasts and fanned out its short sleeves over her shoulders. Today her "hakama" was less decent than that green and white skirt that I had seen her in. There were no legs at all to the garment. He legs appeared rather long and they seemed to have been darkened by the sun which showed that it was normal for her to have her legs uncovered to this extent. The white "hakama" just covered the part of her body that was between her navel and the top of her thighs.

"Good morning Sesshomaru-sama," she said as she tilted her head towards me. I tilted my head in return. Her smiling face led me to believe that she truly thought nothing of such attire.

"Good morning," I said to the whole room when I raised my head and saw that the taijiya was now also in the room with the kistsune Shippo at her side.

"You have made it just before lunch," I informed them. "Amaya, will show you to your rooms. You may wash and rest there before the meal," I told them. I turned towards Inuyasha.

"I have had your old room cleaned out and aired. The monk will be staying with you," I saw him open his mouth like he was going to say something, but he closed it without saying a word. When I felt like he really wasn't going to say anything I started to turn towards the females.

"Thanks Sesshomaru," I heard him say. _A think you?_ It sounded odd but then I remember that he had used those words before when Rin and I visited their hut a moon ago.

"It was nothing," I said, and then placed my attention on the girls. "With your permission," I aimed at Kagome, "I'm willing to let Shippo stay with Rin. It was one of her requests," I waited for a reply.

"Of course, it's no problem at all," she was blushing as she said this. _Why? Wasn't she the one that looked after him?_

_Rin will be pleased,_ I told myself. I then looked at them both.

"Now you have a choice," I told them blankly after a moment had passed. I never really gave choices. "You can choose to share the same room with each other or have your own rooms." I was looking at Kagome the whole time, but it was a question meant for both of them so I turned my gaze to … _her name? Sango. I will have to learn her name. I can't call her taijiya while she's in my home as a guest. _

"Are you asking me?" Sango asked as she raised a hand to her chest, as a look of surprise crossed her face.

"I'm asking both of you," I answered. They turned and looked at each other then turned back to me. No one was speaking. Sango then nudged Kagome with her elbow to say something.

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble, we, Sango, I, have a favor to ask," she looked up at me and I hadn't a clue of what she wanted to ask. I was a little more interested in why she was now so nervous when talking to me. She wasn't like this before.

"Yes?" I inquired.

"Well, when we left the village we left a message for Kouga that he could find us here if he happened to stop by the village looking for us. So with your permission, we would like to ask for Kouga to stay if he does show up," she finished and she was fidgeting. I looked at her with curiosity. She stopped fidgeting while I was looking at her. I think she believed that I was taking too long to answer.

"Granted," I said. "Does this mean that you wish to have separate rooms so that he would stay with …" I looked at her. "Sango, if he does arrive?" I asked and then turned my eyes back to Kagome. A blush quickly spread across her face. I was starting to like her face like this.

"Yes," she answered.

"Then it's settled," I said, as I made my mind think of other things.

"Amaya," I called. She opened the door and came to stand just on the inside of the door. "Show our guest to their rooms. The two females will be staying in different rooms, the young one is to be showed to Rin's room and the monk will be staying in Inuyasha's room with him. Come back to see me when you are done," I told her in conclusion.

"You will be called for lunch when it's time," I told them before I bowed. They bowed in return and started to follow Amaya out of the room.

"Inuyasha," I said to him as he started to leave. He stopped and watched his friends as they continued to leave before turning to look at me. I sat down and waited for him to take a seat also.

"What do you want to talk about?" he asked as he sat down.

"Do the others know?" I asked him.

"Know about what?" he asked in turn.

"That you are involved with the monk," I stated. His face was set as it looked at me.

"No," he answered. I lightly tapped a finger or two on the top of my well polished table. He has reasons and I'm sure one of them is Kagome. I would not be the one that she learns this from if he doesn't think it was time to tell her.

"Do you wish for this to last?" I asked him. I was genuinely interested for a number of reasons.

"Yes," he told me without taking time to think.

"I will do nothing to reveal your secret," I told him. He looked as if he was trying to figure out if he could trust me. "Do you not trust me?" I asked him.

"I trust you. I don't think you know how to lie," he said. "I was wondering when you found out."

"It was the night before we left. I heard one of you as I passed by the camp," I answered. He blushed. It must be a fall back of his human side. _He blushed a lot back then too._ I reminded myself.

"You should go and wash up for lunch," I said as I once again eyed his red clothing. "While you are here," I added, "you will become Inuyasha-sama again. Please dress accordingly," I finished.

I heard no argument from him as he stood and then left the room, to find his own room and the monk waiting there. _He must have expected this on some level to not make a fuss._

I turned my focus back the scrolls that were in front of me. A few minutes later there was a light rapping at the door and then Amaya slipped into the room. She stood at the door until I looked up at her and she came forward.

"Have the tailors been sent for?" I asked her.

"Yes Sesshomaru-sama," she said with her eyes slightly lowered.

I shifted through the scrolls until I found a piece of paper that I had written on the night before. I then handed it to her.

"When they get here give them this then let me know of their arrival personally," I instructed.

"Yes Sesshomaru-sama," she answered again as she tucked the paper into her obi.

"You may go," I told her.

She bowed fully before she backed out of the room. As the door closed I reached over and poured some more tea into my empty cup. I inhaled the smell of lemon grass before drinking all the liquid in two mouthfuls. _Now how is this going to proceed?_ I asked myself.


	23. Chapter 23

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Chapter 23

I was looking up at a ceiling that was painted with every color I knew of to portray a very breath taking scene. I was lying back on a bed that was far bigger than the one I had at home, on sheets that were softer than any I have ever felt. I was looking up at a female demon, of some kind, as she laid in the arms of someone she must have really loved, since she was letting him kiss her. The lady had black hair like my own, but hers was so much longer. The male had equally long hair but the complete opposite in the familiar stark white coloring I had gotten use to.

If it wasn't for the fact that I was human I could easily believe that it was a prediction of what could happen between Sesshomaru-sama and myself, but that was just wishful thinking on my part. It belonged in my day dreams that I seem to keep having. This past month it was as if he was with us the whole time. Never talking, never interacting, but always present and looking at me.

I started to think of him the night I was rescued by Inuyasha from that smelly bog demon. That demon had put me to sleep with some gas that came from his body after he placed me in the barrier that Inuyasha found me in when he finally showed up. I knew he would come, but it seemed like he took his time doing it. I was looking at him when my vision wavered and I thought that I was going to collapse when I saw Sesshomaru-sama, then it changed back to Inuyasha.

I held his hands after he killed the bog demon to make sure it was him. Normally he doesn't let me hold his hands, but once in awhile he lets me and I take full advantage of it, but that time I just felt his hands. I felt his long nails and warm skin. My heart didn't skip a beat. I looked at him without blushing, I just felt happiness at being rescued by my friend.

I turned my head to the side and looked out a window at the blue sky with out a cloud in sight. I breathed deeply as I remembered when Inuyasha told me that he wasn't in love with me anymore. I remembered how hurt I felt. At first I didn't believe it and I just refused to believe it. How could he not love me? I carried Kikyo's soul. He was suppose to love me, like in all the fairy tales. I loved him, I really did. I remembered all the times I saw him holding that thing that called herself Kikyo and my heart would break. _That was right. My chest did hurt and I felt like he was being taken from me and I was afraid of not being able to see him again because he left with her. _

_But what do I feel for him now? Friendship? Something close to what I feel for Sota? I think... I should get ready for lunch._ I got up off of the bed and walked across the room to kneel down next to my bag that I dropped close to the door and pulled things out until I had gotten my towel, a bar of soap and another outfit that I threw unto the bed for me to change into when I got back from the bath.

I stepped from my room with my things in hand and walked down the hallway on my right to the girls' shared bath. _Maybe I'll find Sango there_. I thought to myself.

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"He knows?" Miroku asked again for the fourth time since I told him what Sesshomaru and I talked about. I watched him as he walked back and forth running his fingers through his hair.

"What are you so upset about it? I told you he didn't mind," I told him hoping to get him to calm down.

"You're right," he said as he started to slow down his pace. "It was just unexpected," Miroku turned and walked towards the bed and laid down. "So that is why we ended up sharing the same room," he stated.

"It would seem so," I said as I looked back at him. "It does make a few things easier for us." I was looking at his face and thought that it looked good enough to lick.

"Is that you?" Miroku asked me.

"I haven't touched you yet. What are you feeling?" I asked him as I started to think of possibilities. _It couldn't be bedbugs, they would have cleaned everything._

"No. Nothing is touching me, I meant that," he said as he pointed up to the ceiling. I followed his arm, then hand and then finger as it got me to look up.

"Oh that," I said before I laid down next to him and looked up at the same painting. "That is Sesshomaru," I told him.

"Why is there a painting of Sesshomaru on the ceiling of your bedroom?" Miroku asked.

"It wasn't always mine. It was his when he was younger. Before I came, I was told, he wanted a different room when he got older. Since this was the only other room that was decorated for a boy, it was given to me when I was brought here." I looked up at it seeing Sesshomaru the way he looked over two hundred years ago.

"Did you hate having it there?" he asked after a while.

"No. I thought that it was interesting at first," I told him. "But later, it helped in keeping me here for as long as I ended up staying," I added.

"How?" he asked.

"It would remind me, at times, that he wasn't always a stuck up asshole when he was being a pain and that maybe if I stayed long enough and he got use to me, he would show something close to what he was like back then." I breathed out. "Of course that didn't happen, at least not back then."

"You think that he's changing now?"

"It looks that way. We haven't really seen him smile yet, but he seems a bit more willing to change."

"Why is that?" Miroku asked as he turned his face towards me.

"Maybe it's just time."

"Time?" he asked back at me.

"Yeah. When I first came here, it was after my mom died and he had only been lord for about twenty years. He came and found me and he told me to come with him. At the time I thought that my brother had come for me, but later it felt like he was just doing something that he thought he had to do, not that he wanted to it. Now it feels like he wants to be around me."

"That should make you happy," he said before turning to look back up at the painting.

"It does, I just wish that I wasn't suppose to change too," I said on an exhaled breath as I sat up.

"Change? Why do you have to change?" Miroku asked as he propped himself up on his elbows to look at me. I got up and walked over to the closet and opened the doors.

"Sesshomaru didn't just talk about me and you earlier. He told me that while I was here, I was going to act the part of Inuyasha-sama," I pulled at one of the number of kimonos hanging there. It didn't smell dusty or stale in the closet at all. I even caught a hit of lavender. "He made it a point of telling me to dress appropriately. He never liked my fire rat kimono. I never asked him why, thinking it reminded him of something that he would rather not remember for how he looked at it."

Miroku got up and walked over to the closet and soon we were looking through silk outfits together. He picked something out for me to wear for lunch before we went into the next room for a bath. It was one of the perks of the bedrooms. Only the non-servant bedrooms came with a bathroom attached to it, which were twelve in all.

We did everything while we took our bath. We scrubbed every inch of each other's skin and washed each other's hair. I tried to spend as much time as I could washing his hair, so I could feel him against me, but he wouldn't let me, saying that he didn't want to be late to lunch, to have Sesshomaru disapprove of him.

"When did you start wanting Sesshomaru to approve of you?" I asked Miroku as he came up for air after rinsing the hair soap out of his hair.

"Since a month ago," he answered. "I also tried to stay clear of him so he would have less to judge me on for when he learned of us, but I can't dodge him in his own home now can I?" he said before ducking under the water again as he tried to make real sure that none of the soap was left.

We also helped each other get dress, not that it took much for Miroku to get into his robes.

"Why don't you have anything else to wear?" I asked him as I watched him tie the purple one over his black robe.

"Because I'm monk. I thought you knew that," he said as he pulled at bits to have them fall where he wanted.

"Dah, of course you say that you are a monk, but you don't act like one. You chased after women more than anyone I've known, you've had sex with men and now you're with me, a demon. You lie and swindle people for food, a place to stay and money. What part of you is a monk exactly?" I finally asked.

He sat down on the bed and looked at me.

"Do you want to know about the people I've been with Inuyasha?" he asked after he seemed to spend some time thinking of what to say.

Now it was my turn to think. _Do I want to know about all the women that he has been with and who was the guy he was with before? Was it just one guy?_ As much as I didn't want to know, I realized that I did want the answers.

"Yes," I said as I prepared myself for the onslaught of his pass affairs and tumbles.

"I've been with two women and one man before you," he said. I looked at him blankly.

"You lie," I almost shouted at him.

"Why would I lie? I've had sex with two females and one male before you. That is the truth," he stood and walked over to me. "Have you ever seen me walk away with anyone since I've been hunting down Naraku with you and the others these two years past?" he looked into my eyes and waited for an answer. I tried to think about it. I remember seeing him being slapped by every female I saw him talking to after they caught his attention. Once we thought that he was off having a tumble with one of them, but found that he was pulled off to be free labor and was helping to rebuild a small shelter for some animal.

"I can't remember any," I told him honestly in a lower voice that I didn't use often.

"That's because I haven't since I've joined our group. Everyone I've been with was before I knew of you," he reached out and placed his hand on my chest. "And only one of them had I believed myself in love with."

"Ok, I'm listening," I said before licking my lips. He looked clearly into my eyes and began to tell me this part of his life. He was about sixteen years old when he slept with someone for the first time.

**It was with an older woman who was trying to have a child for her husband. They had been married for a number of years and they were still childless. I had been on my own for a few months and I was trying to put into practice what I thought would get me by, along with a few things that Mushin told me. **

**She found me talking to young lady and when it turned out that I couldn't stay with her that night I turned away and was about to move on when she got my attention and waved me over. She said that she had heard of a traveling monk that morning and came to seek my help, hoping I would be able to help them. She asked me what I knew of ways to get a woman pregnant. I was honest with her and told her that I didn't know much. There was something in the way that she was looking at me that made me think that she had more to ask me. Having sex to have a child wasn't something to be done so casually with a married woman I thought.**

I began to laugh when I heard that.

"Are you sure?" I asked him as I took a seat in a chair that was close by still laughing under my breath.

"Yes. I never really expected anyone to take me seriously. But I learned that it helps to move through life when no one really thinks that you are a treat." The look on his face sobered me up and I looked at him with a straight face again so he could continue his story. He let out a breath and scratched the side of his face as he walked back to the bed and sat down.

**She took me to her home and we talked about a few things. She asked if there wasn't some kind of spell or if I knew of medicine that would help her have a child. I told her that all I could do was say a prayer for her to Kami and the Buda. She looked sad before she looked away from me. I then said that I knew of a tea that may help her be more prepared to have a child and that I would go and see if she had the ingredients in the kitchen so I could make her some and show her how to make it herself. She told me where it was and that the kitchen girl's name was Kiku. I found the kitchen without difficulty and I had a pleasant talk with Kiku.**

**I got what I was looking for and I learned that the lady of house couldn't have children but she refused to believe it. I was the third person that she had brought to the house to help her so far that month. I asked her how she knew for sure and she said that the master already has a daughter from his first marriage. His wife died in a raid years ago. Also two years back he had a son by his mistress. I then asked her if she knew why the mistress of the house would continue to think that she could have a child. Kiku said that it was because she had a child once too. This was a second marriage for both of them. **

**She was living twenty-three miles to the north of there with her husband and son when their village was attacked by a demon that tore through the village leaving few people alive. She was almost one of the dead, but a skilled miko saved her life and three others. Her husband and son weren't that lucky. She wanted to believe that she could still have a child, but they have told her that she can't because of the damage to her body from the attack. When the master realized that she could not give him a son, he stopped sleeping with her. She, Kiku, didn't think that he has spent a night with her in over three years. **

**I thanked her and walked back to the room and the woman I felt sorry for. I made the tea for her and showed her how to make it and told her how often to take it. I also told her that it may never give her a child and that it would not give her back her husband. She said that she understood, then she asked me to stay with her for the night. She said that I had been one of the kinder men that she had asked for help from and she was lonely. I told her that I couldn't be with a married woman. She walked me to the room she was letting me stay in, but before she left, she said that she hadn't been a married woman in a long time. Around midnight I went back to her room and I stayed with her. **

**The next day I made a show of thanking them and blessing the household. I reminded her to take her tea and she gave me a few coins for the journey. I thanked her and left. I bought a jug of sake that I had a swing or two of when I was well pass the town. I felt odd for leaving her in an unhappy marriage, but I knew that there was nothing I could do. I remembered our night fondly, as I'm sure she must have too from the smile on her face the next day and I considered it the first of many to come. **

Miroku looked up at me then.

"Well? What about the others?" I asked him as he picked up the blue kimono and walked over to me.

"Get up, you have to finish getting dressed," he said. "Inuyasha-sama cannot be late. I will tell you the rest later." He handed me the kimono as I stood up. I already had on the matching solid blue hakama that went with the kimono. As I shrugged into it I flexed my arms to make sure it was still a good fit. Miroku was tying a knot when there was a knock at the door.

He slid into the chair that I just stood from before I said "Enter." The door open and in walked Amaya.

"It's lunch time Inuyasha-sama," she said with her head bowed.

"Thank you, we'll be right down," I told her.

"Yes my lord," she said, and then backed out of the room closing the door behind her. I finished tying the other set of stings then ran my hands down the front of the kimono. I felt the rise of the stitching from the cloth as it depicted trees, some hills and a bridge I believed. I was careful not to nick it with my claws. It had been waiting for over fifty years for me to wear it again and I didn't need to hear how I damaged it the first day that I'm back in this house. It was one of a few that were mixed with some styles from the main land.

Miroku rose and stepped towards me. His eyes grew darker before he kissed me. I warped my arms around his waist and pulled him closer.

"You look gorgeous," he said as he pulled way. "I'm going to enjoy undressing you later," he added before I pulled him forward and kissed him again.

"We should go shouldn't we?" I asked with my lips hovering over his.

"I think so," he answered. I looked into his eyes then I looked at his mouth. I closed my eyes and licked my tongue slowly over his bottom lip before I pulled away.

"We should go then," I said as I pulled on his robe to get him to follow me. He opened his eyes and smiled. We left the room and made our way down stairs to the main dining hall.


	24. Chapter 24

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Chapter 24

_How far away is this bathroom?_ I asked myself as I turned and looked down another hall. _I'm so lost._ I felt heat coming from one direction and then I saw steam as it made its way out from under a doorway. _This has to be it._ I pushed the door open and saw a beautiful and very large hot water bathtub that was half sunken into the floor but you still needed to walk up steps to get into it. It looked something like a Jacuzzi without the jets and a person who only knew of six colors would call it white. The inner walls looked like they were made out of stone that was polished to a flat and shiny surface. The floor was wood that had space between each row for the water to drain and it must have been lacquered or something to protect it from the water, but I felt something grainy under my feet, like sand, the further in I stepped. I quickly closed to door to keep the rest of the steam from leaving the room. I quickly stripped knowing that I had wasted a lot of time trying to find this place. _Where was Sango?_

"Sango? Are you in here?" I asked as I walked around the room looking for her.

I just saw walls and no other rooms. I walked up the steps towards the tub with my soap in one hand as I tried to put my hair up into a scrunchy with my other hand. I started my bath the moment I stepped into the warm water. _Maybe I missed her._ I told myself. _Then why didn't I see her going back to her room? Do I even know where her room is?_ I didn't. That lady led me to my room first, and I stayed there while she showed Sango her own room.

I washed my face and then my neck. I used the back brush, that I saw when I got into the tub, to give my own back a good scrub and I used it to clean my sides as well. I washed it out and hung it back up before moving on to clean my other parts. I had wanted to wash my hair too, but I won't have time to dry it. _I'll just have to wash it tonight before bed or in the morning when I wake up. _I told myself.

I finished up and dunked down a few times up to my neck to rinse off. I felt the pull of the water when most of my body was under the water line. It had a flow to it, like a stream. That would be why the water felt fresh every time my hands passed through it.

_Ok, time to get out of here._ I placed one foot out of the tub when I heard a click. I almost jumped back into the water, but it was the woman's bath. _I have nothing to hide from another girl._

"Sango, is that you?" I asked as I began to think that she might have taken a nap and was just getting here. That thought left my mind as I saw whose face was looking at me, causing me to freeze half way down the steps. I stood still not really knowing what to do as my mind ticked off what I didn't think I could do. _My towel was nowhere in reach, I could fall if I tried running back to the water, but he had already seen me. I…_

"What are you doing in my bath?" he asked me as he slowly walked around the tub. _HIS BATH? DEAR __GOD!_

"I'm sorry Sesshomaru-sama," I said as my hands started to move in a very vain attempt to hide some part of me from his eyes. It didn't matter if he already saw, it was the fact that he was still looking. "I didn't know this was your bathroom. I thought it was the girl's shared bath." I hung my head as he continued to walk all the way around the tub and myself.

"You got lost," he stated. He didn't have to ask, he knew the only way for me to find this was place was if I was lost.

"Yes," I answered even though it wasn't a question. I chanced a look at him to see what shade of which emotion would be on his face. I was betting on annoyance in a pale gray coloring. Instead I was looking at a robe. He was holding it out to me. As I took it from him, he turned to face the wall. I warped myself in it and then gathered my things while his back was still turned.

"Once again, I'm sorry Sesshomaru-sama," I told him as I started to back away, "I'll be going back to my room now," I said as I placed my hand on the door that I used earlier.

"Do you know how to get back to your room?" This time he was asking me. I thought about the twists and turns I took to get this far and couldn't think of what came after the third hallway I walked down, or is that before?

"No," I confessed. I let go of the door. "Can..."

"I..." we stopped when our words over lapped.

"I," he tried again when I stayed quiet. "will walk you back to your room." He raised his hand and pushed at one of the darker colored stone squares on the wall. There was that clicking sound again which was followed by a sliding sound that I didn't hear the first time and then light came from another room. He walked forward without looking back. I followed to find him taking off his own robe in what must have been his bedroom. He laid his robe across his bed and I blushed as I saw his back and part of his fundoshi. I didn't see everything due to his tail covering most of his lower body from my sight. I turned my head away and looked at the noren hanging from the wall, after seeing a very clear body profile of his tall and sama like body. I heard the sliding and rustling of clothing coming from his direction and I pictured him getting dress as much as I tried to stop myself from doing so.

When I thought it was safe to look away from the weeping sakura flower design that covered the noren in shades of white, black and pink, I looked back at Sesshomaru. He was already dressed in a kimono of white, trimmed in and decorated in dark red and his tail was looping itself over his shoulder as he looked at me. We looked at each other for a moment and I wondered what he was waiting for. I gripped the neck of the robe and walked towards the door. I opened the door and felt air as it was pushed past my face as Sesshomaru filled my field of view to stand before me.

"How old are you?" he asked me with his golden eyes looking down into me.

"I'm seventeen," I told him. _Why did he want to know?_ He walked out of the doorway ahead of me and was waiting for me to step out of the room. I reached to close the door for him when I felt his hand on mine. He pressed down, holding my hand to the door as we both closed it. He was very warm against my back even though we were barely touching. Just as quickly as he was there, he was ten feet in front of me. He looked at me as I started to walk towards him, trying to understand what was going on as quickly as the events were happening. He turned and slowly walked away when he saw I was following him.

He didn't speak, not that I expected him too, but after a while I couldn't take the lonely and loud sound of my feet as they pattered along the floor in the very empty halls.

"Ahm," I couldn't think of something and it sounded louder than I thought it would be.

"I," I tried again. "I was wondering how long you would like for us to stay?" I caught up a little to him, not liking the gap between us. He still didn't say anything.

"We didn't think that it would be just a day or two since you were having rooms cleaned out for us. I was thinking that it may be five days to a week, but like I said we aren't sure, and I was wondering if you already had thought about how long we could stay?" I felt like I was talking way too much since he didn't show any signs that he was going to answer. It was the same as when I was taking care of him. He wouldn't say anything and I would babble on to fill the silence until I got him to say something to me. _Maybe it will work again._ I thought as I continued to wait for him to answer. When he was still quite after a few more moments I started to think of something else to ask him.

"I was also wondering … ," I stopping speaking when he stopped walking. He reached out and opened a door.

"Is this your room?" he asked.

I blinked and looked around. This could be the hallway outside my room. I stepped around him and walked into the room. There was my yellow back pack where I left it, and I looked up at the ceiling and there was the painting as well.

"This is my room. Thank you Sesshomaru-sama," I said as I turned back to him. He was no longer standing outside of the door. He was inside the room and closing the door. I watched him as he walked over to a chair that was next to a wall and sat down.

"I will wait here for you while you get dressed, so I can escort you to the dining hall," he said. _He sat down. He said that he was staying while I got dressed._ "Or do you wish to get lost again?" he asked me when he saw me looking at him.

"No," I said still wondering how I could get dressed in front of him. He's not even looking away like I did for him in his room. I looked around and saw a large bamboo looking screen off in the corner on the other side of the bed from him. I walked over to the bed and picked up my bag. I pulled out a few things and left my towel on the bed and picked up my clothes before walking behind the screen. When I got closer I saw that it was made of something other than bamboo. Only the frame was bamboo, the rest of the screen was a made from canvas.

_I could keep talking to him_, I thought for a moment but then I thought that I should be quite for a while. I threw the robe over the screen and separated my bra from the rest of my cloths. I snapped it on and I started to feel a little hot. I reached over and opened the window a little to let some air in.

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I sat in a room that I hadn't set foot in, in decades. I looked around and it looked mostly like the last time I saw it. This was Inuyasha's mother room, but she never got to stay in here. My mother wouldn't let a ningen live in the same house as her and as her equal no less. She fumed for days over it. Father and her fought up until he left for his battle with Ryūkotsusei. When he came back mother was gone.

I wasn't sad to see her leave, I was already one hundred and thirty-two by that time, and I was just something for her to be envied over. All she really cared about, that I could remember, was status. My eyes settled on the screen that Kagome was getting dressed behind. I smelled the flowers from the orange snap dragons that were planted on that side of the house. Light came in the window along with the sweet smelling air. I saw her shape through the canvas as she continued to get dress.

I saw the shape and remembered the look of her from when I found her stepping out of my bath. I saw the curve of her breasts, the dip of her back, her slender arms, the soft look of the skin on her thighs and her bare long neck. They all fitted into place as I watched her move behind the screen.

When I was getting dressed I felt her eyes on me for a few moments, then they was gone. _Why_ _did she look away? I didn't even think of telling her to look away._ Once I knew I lost her attention, getting dressed proved to be a quick fare. _Why did I seem to care if she looked at me and was … disappointed when she stopped? Disappointed?_ I wasn't happy which is true and I questioned why she would look away.

I was not looking away as she bent to pick something up and her ass stuck out and I saw that it was partly covered in something white with little dots of color decorating it. When she stood back up, and I saw the shadow of her hand as she moved a finger under the fabric before she continued to dress.

"…_how long would you like for us to stay?"_ Her words came back to me when she continued to stay quite. At first I hadn't given it any real thought. This was also Inuyasha's home, and he can stay as long as he liked. I thought about telling her this, but then that might cause her to continue to talk. It was information that the rest of her group would also like to know, I'm sure. I'll tell them all at lunch and they can decide when they are ready to leave. At least this way, they won't think that I'm trying to keep them here or trying to chase them out.

She stepped from behind the screen wearing a light blue skirt that went down below her knees with a red shirt that looked as soft as the flowers I smelled.

"Where did you get such clothing?" I asked her. Her clothes once again brought to mind that she truly didn't really belong here.

"From home," she answered me.

"Did you make them?" I asked.

"I bought them," she replied. Such short answers from someone I know to constantly talk. I will confront her with this later.

"Are you ready?" I asked her as I stood.

"Just about, I just have to brush my hair out," she said as she picked her brush up from the bed and walked over to the mirror. She pulled something small from her hair and it fell. She brushed it out and left it fallen, covering her neck. I wanted to see her neck bare again, but that was something else that I couldn't ask. I walked over to the door and opened it to wait for her in the hallway. Before she reached the door I smelled something new. It was coming from her. As she got closer the smell tried to engulf me. I looked at her as she drew near and her skin blushed again. She stood and looked up at me with liquid brown eyes. Wide and unafraid, and without a hint of anything of the false hopes or misguided expectations that I had come accustomed to when dealing with other ruling families.

_Was her skin as warm as it looked?_ Before I knew it I was reaching my hand out for her. I felt the heat from her skin sink into my finger tips as I slid them along her cheek. I laid my thumb in front of her ear and rubbed to feel more of her skin.

I pulled my hand back when my view was tinted with pink, and her skin started to glow.

"Your friends are waiting," I said from where I now stood, six feet away. She closed the door then walked in my direction. We preceded to the dining hall, her female friend Sango, my brother, his lover, my Rin and her kitsune friend Shippo.

**# ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ #**

**Noren** - a Japanese cloth room divider, wall hanging, doorway curtain or a window curtain

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There you go. I know, my sick ideas were a bit absent this time, but those of you who hate Kagome may consider the pairing a sick idea all by itself. Sorry, but Kagome isn't the bad person in this story.

See ya.


	25. Chapter 25

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

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Chapter 25

"Inuyasha, why is Sesshomaru-sama late?" Shippo asked from his place next to Rin who was playing with his tail. Rin's time with him has rubbed off in the fact that he calls Sesshomaru with the title of sama when he's not in the room.

"Sesshomaru-sama is not late. He is where he is suppose to be, when he is there." Rin said loud enough for the whole room to hear.

"That is what I call brainwashing," Sango whispered to Miroku who was seated next to her. Inuyasha, who was sitting at the other end of the short table, had no problem hearing what she said.

"So who brainwashed Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha asked her. "He believes it too."

"What is brainwashing?" Shippo asked Miroku.

"It's when someone is told something that is isn't true, as if it was the truth until that person believes it," Miroku explained.

"It is the truth," Rin told him. She had given up playing with the kitsune's tail, to defend her guardian.

"You should apologize, before Sesshomaru shows up," Inuyasha said. Miroku and Sango looked at each other before Sango turned and looked at Rin.

"I'm sorry Rin. I shouldn't have said such a thing." Sango's apology seemed to have been well received. Rin's smile returned to her face and her eyes.

"It's ok," she said before turning to talk to Shippo in a lower tone.

"Where is Kagome?" Inuyasha asked out loud.

As if to answer his question the door opened and in walked Kagome. She smiled at her friends, but before anyone could say anything, they saw more movement by to the door. Sesshomaru's left hand closed the door before he walked into the room and pass Kagome on his way to the head of the table where he stood and waited. Everyone else looked at him as he stood there waiting for something or someone. Their eyes then moved to Kagome as she moved to take one of last two seats at the table that were on either side of Sesshomaru. She chose the seat to his right and sat between him and Rin.

Once she was seated, Sesshomaru sat, but before he finished adjusting his mokomoko a servant girl came into the room. Everyone recognized her as Amaya as she made her way over to Sesshomaru and talked to him in soft tones. Inuyasha swiveled his ears so he would not hear his brother's message.

He nodded his head and she bowed before leaving the room.

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I looked around the table at everyone who was seated there. Rin was playing with Shippo, Inuyasha looked like he had a question or two, but he still managed to appear like his normal disagreeable self. Miroku, his monk and lover, sat between him and Sango. Those two did not trust me yet, which is a good thing. To trust someone who was your enemy not that long ago showed that they had some conviction. Along with that trait there was something of respect. If that respect was for myself or my brother I wasn't sure yet, but at this point it didn't matter.

I went back to the one I had passed over too quickly. Kagome. She chose to sit at my right, which ment nothing to me, but having her sit next to Rin, once again brings up this feeling that I'm suppose to protect her.

Her head was bowed and she looking down at the polished brown wood. I raised my head a little more.

"Inuyasha," I started. He in turn gave me his full attention. "You are free to stay as long as you wish. You may come and go as you please. There is no limit to how long you and your friends may stay here."

I watched his face as it paled in disbelief. Everyone but Rin seemed slightly taken back. She was happy at the thought of her friend staying with her longer. She smiled at me and I looked at her with the only kind of kindness I knew.

"Thank you Sesshomaru-sama," Rin told me. I looked at her a bit longer before I turned back to Inuyasha.

"Do you have something to say Inuyasha?" I asked him as the continued to be speechless. That seemed to have snapped him out of the daze he had settled in. Now he looked thoughtful in a way that only he could pull off.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yes," I told him. "Did I not tell you that this is your home also?" I now asked him. He pondered this for a while before speaking again.

"Thank you, Sesshomaru," he said. I knew that words are simple to say, but these meant something. I looked at him. I appreciated him saying that in public, but I seem to lack the same courage at the moment. Right now I can only show it in action and not words. The words will come later.

"Amaya, lunch," I said. The two side doors to the room opened and three servants came into the room, each with their own set of trays. As the trays emptied, another servant appeared to restock the trays with the next dish, keeping the number of servants at the table three in number.

The first dish placed before us was that of rice in a blue and white baked clay bowl with a gloss finish. Next were some fried fish in sliced pieces that smelled heavy of ginger on a small brown plate that looked like it was made from thick glass. Next to follow was white crab flesh with pink tips on a bed of seaweed on a flat white plate. Then a plate of steamed cabbage and leeks were put in their place in front of each of us. The kenchin soup delivered it's aroma from a highly polished wooden bowl. The tsukemono was placed on the table as the last element to the meal. A set of chopsticks, a spoon and a napkin were placed before each occupant of the table before the current servants moved out of the room.

Now male servants appeared to place cups and to pour the tea. It smelled like the green tea that I received as I gift from the village I got the crabs from. Once each cup was filled, two tea pots were left on the table and the last of the servants closed the doors as they left.

The room was now lacking movement and the world seemed to be hold. Everyone looked over their meal as I did a quick glance over the table. I picked up my own chopsticks, bowed my head and then proceeded to have my lunch. I slowly ate tasting everything of my meal. I heard everyone as they started to eat and hold small quite conversations.

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"Where were you?" Sango asked as quietly as she could, but she couldn't avoid having the whole table hearing her.

"I got lost," I told her.

"Lost? Trying to find the dining room?" she asked me.

"No," I said as I started the blush. "The bath," I told her. "Did you remember where it was?" I asked her.

"I had a bath next to my room. Didn't your room come with a bath also?" she asked me with a questioning look on her face.

"I didn't really look. I thought Amaya said that there was a girl shared bath that we were to use," I told her faintly as I remembered Sesshomaru finding me in his bath.

"All the 'family' rooms have their own bath. Only the servants use the shared bath." Inuyasha told the whole room. I knew that I was starting to blush.

"If you didn't use your own bath, where did you take your bath?" Sango asked.

"Aham..." I placed a piece of crab in my mouth to give myself some time come up with a nice way of saying what happened. _But how can I make that sound nice? I used Sesshomaru's bath. It's too simple a statement to give me room to make it sound different or less than it was. _

"I, well, I kinda used Sesshomaru-sama's bath by accident." I bowed my head and ate some fish this time. My shirt was being pulled. I looked to see Rin's little hand holding the reddish pink cloth that was my sleeve.

"Did Sesshomaru-sama scrub your back for you?" she asked looking up at me. "He doesn't give me a bath too often, but when he does he sometimes scrubs my back." She smiled at me as she waited for my response.

I just sat there as the images of him giving me a bath moved through my mind.

"No I did not scrub her back Rin," Sesshomaru told her.

"Oh," she said before I felt her pulling at me again. I looked down at her and she came a bit closer, and said. "Don't worry, maybe he will next time."

"Ok," weakly slipped from my mouth, which she was satisfied with and went back to eating.

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The meal continued in silence, and the younger ones didn't like it. Shippo looked around trying to think of something to ask a question about. Then it hit him that something wasn't the way it normally was, other than the fact that they were eating lunch at Sesshomaru's house.

"Inuyasha," he started. "Where did you get that?" Shippo asked.

"Get what?" he asked without as much interest.

"The new clothes," the little fox explained.

"They're mine," Inuyasha answered. He seemed to have decided that he liked the fried fish, and was looking at the others to see if he could think of a way to get theirs.

"I've never seen you in it," Shippo said, trying to keep the conversation going.

"That's because it's been here in my room," he answered as he started to pay attention to the questions. "I have a whole wardrobe with my old clothes in it."

"Does your room have a painting in it?" Sango asked Inuyasha as she joined the conversation. "Mine has a field of yellow flowers on the ceiling."

"That room belonged to my mother before she married our father," Sesshomaru said as he placed his napkin on the table.

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It didn't feel right that I didn't answer his 'thank you' from before. I had to start talking to him more.

"She stayed there while she was being courted. The field, I once heard, was part of her home that she left behind when she moved here." I reached a hand out and lifted the warm tea to my lips. It wasn't too sweet and I brought it back down to rest in my hands.

"It doesn't bother me that you are staying there," I told Sango. That piece of information didn't seem to put her at ease. "My mom left by choice a long time ago, of her own free will. The room is yours to freely use." I took another sip of my tea.

"My room has stars on the ceiling. I asked for them after I was given my room. I was lucky that nothing was there before. Kagome, what is on your ceiling?" Rin asked.

"Two demons kissing," she answered. "She has very long black hair, and he has long white hair."

"Oh, you got Inuyasha-sama mother's room," Rin told her. I could see the questions forming in Kagome's head and I waited for her to voice them.

"How can that be Inuyasha's mother? The lady in the painting was a demon. Her hands had claws." She didn't direct the question at me for some reason. I was the only one who could answer it. Inuyasha never saw the room as far as I knew, so I've never heard this question from him to have answered it.

"The painter got it wrong," I said. "Our father was going to bring Inuyasha's mother here, before he was born to help keep her safe for when she was to give birth to him. Father told the painter that she was the most beautiful creature that he had ever laid eyes on and that she had long midnight colored hair. I overheard this and thought that he had gone too far to call any ningen a 'beautiful creature'."

I took another sip before looking up at Inuyasha.

"Before it was finished he had to leave to fight Ryūkotsusei. He never saw the finished painting. I went in one day to look at it after I saw Izayoi for the first time. I wanted to see how the painter did without seeing her. The painter must not have heard the stories that he had a ningen mistress, because he painted her as a black haired demon with her face hidden. He gave her graceful hands and a long body with the midnight black hair that father mentioned, but he didn't want to do injustice to her face, so he hid it. That is why she looks like a demon."

Everyone was looking at me. I had to take another sip of tea. I'm not use to talking this much. Even with my meetings to run my lands and come up with peace treaties and such I don't have to explain so much. They did most of the talking and I just agreed or pointed out what needed to be changed.

I continued to watch them as they finished eating and wondered how I was going to do this. This was a needed step, but I have never done it like this before, if ever. _I'll just have to get this over with._

"Amaya," I called as I poured some more tea. Before I set down the tea pot I heard the door slide open.

"Yes Sesshomaru-sama?" she asked when she came into the room.

"You can send them in now," I told her.

"Yes Sesshomaru-sama," she said before backing out of the room.

"Show who in?" Inuyasha asked as looked between me and the door.

"The tailors," I told him and the others.

"Tailors?" Kagome asked as she looked at me. I looked into her eyes and they swam around me. I moved my eyes across the rest of the table in search of something else to look at because of this odd feeling I now had. Like I was going to drown if I continued to look into her eyes alone.

The door opened again and in walked Amaya, followed by five tall demons and three shorter ones. The lead tailor by the name of Kisho came forward. I'm sure that the ningens in the room other than Amaya did not have a good idea of how old he was. He was a tailor in service to my father long before I was born. He bowed, dipping his purple kimono more unto the floor.

"Sesshomaru-sama," he said to address me. I nodded my head in his direction. I then turned back to the table.

"This is Kisho, my head tailor. He makes all the garments for the family member of this house hold," I said. He bowed to the rest of the table and they in turn did some gesture to acknowledge him. All but Inuyasha, that is. I looked at him hoping I wouldn't have to say anything in front of Kisho to him. He looked at me, and then bowed his head at Kisho.

"Inuyasha-sama, it has been a while. I hope that you are well." I don't know if he really cared, but he was trying to make his upcoming job easier on himself it would seem. I wondered if the memories of trying to measure Inuyasha for his set of garments fifty plus years ago came back to him when he received the letter of my new request?

"This afternoon you will have your measurements taken for a set of two garments. One is just something to wear while relaxing or for everyday, and one will be more formal ware." They looked at me as if I hadn't spoken clearly. "Is my gift not good enough?" I looked at each one in turn as Kisho stepped back.

"No, it's not that Sesshomaru-sama," Kagome said.

"It's quite a gracious gift Sesshomaru-sama. It was just very unexpected," the monk said. I sat back in my chair.

"Why unexpected? Did you not expect me to keep my word?" I asked them.

"No, of course not," Kagome said again. "I think we just forgot. Sorry." She then bowed her head, and so did the Sango and the monk. _What is his name again? Miroku._ Inuyasha didn't bow his head or looked sorry. I think he had something else on his mind. I looked at him and waited for him to say what he was going to say.

"Do I have to get measured again?" _So this was on his mind. _I remember the shouts coming from both parties the day he had to get measured. I looked over at Kisho who came forward almost too quickly.

"No worries Inuyasha-sama. We still have your measurements, and it seems like they still hold true. I see that the garment you are wearing looks like it fits you well. Does it still please you?" he asked hoping to have his wishes confirmed.

"It still fits Kisho," Inuyasha told him. He seemed a bit more at ease, but his face still looked unpleasant.

"I am happy to hear that, for we have brought you a gift. It was a piece asked of us by Sesshomaru-sama, for you. We hurried to have it completed in time." One of the shorter demons, a niko demon by the look of his tail, came forward and placed the large box in front of Inuyasha. He bowed and then hurried back to the others.

"Are you set up in the greeting room?" I asked Kisho.

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama," he answered.

"Then it's time for you get measured," I said to the rest of the table. I stood and they stood with me. "Amaya will show you the way." Amaya walked out into the hallway and waited for them to catch up with her. As I sat back down Kisho came forward again, and waited for me to acknowledge him.

"Yes Kisho?" I asked.

"Will we be also making anything for Rin-sama, Sesshomaru-sama?" he asked. It hadn't occurred to me. I thought about it for a moment. She has gotten taller since the last time.

"Yes, and take new measurements," I told him.

"As you wish," he said as he started to back away.

"Wait," I told him. He came back before me. "When you have finished with the measurements, I would like you to come and see me. I will be in the library," I told him.

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama," he said, and I let him leave this time with the rest of his group. I lifted my tea cup to my lips and drank the only slightly warm liquid to moisten my throat.

**# ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ #**

**Kenchin** - Kenchin originally has been a dish (soup) not using meat at all. Though today, many of them contain chicken.

**Tsukemono** - ("pickled things") are Japanese pickles. They are served with rice.


	26. Chapter 26

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

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Chapter 26

I sat in my library appreciating the glow of the darker shadows, and the warmth of the tea as I sipped it smelling each leaf that was used in its making. I saw all my actions towards my brother and Kagome as being very out of character. I haven't tried to show any real interest in anyone in over a century and even then she didn't live long enough for me to develop anything beyond curiosity.

Rin, was different. I tested Tenseiga on her and when she followed me, she placed me in the role of her guardian when she didn't return to the ningens. I understood why she wouldn't go back to the ones in her village, but I expected her to leave me for others of her kind eventually. After a number of better villages and eight moons, it sank in that she wasn't going to leave me.

I looked down at the cup as the steam curled, lifted and melted away into the room. The hot aroma floated around my face which brought back memories of a different scent. The one that made me see Kagome's skin glow, and that questioned my reason for liking her.

I wasn't a being that lied to one's self. I realized it a few weeks ago when I decided to give a few things some thought. It had been so long since I thought of anyone in that way that it was surprising to find out that it had happened again and towards a ningen no less. That might have been the reason why it took me so long to see it. Taking a ningen as a mate is not an easy affair. My brother is luckily with his ningen lover. For one he was male, and for once being a hanyo will be in his favor.

Giggling sounds from outside caused me to look through the blinds to see Rin and Shippo playing on the grass. I wasn't interested in watching them play and turned away to think of what the rest of my day held for me.

"Kagome, do you like those flowers? I like these better," were words said in Rin's voice.

"Let me see," Kagome said as she walked into my field of vision to kneel next to Rin.

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I felt his teeth as they glided along my neck after his initial kiss somewhere in that area. My arms were hanging over his shoulders as he opened the top of my kimono and his hands freely roamed over my exposed chest. He slid his hands down to hold my waist to pull me to him.

I smelled his arousal and it had my mind thinking a number of things that could be happening soon. I pushed onto him more wanting to scratch a very big itch that was getting bigger.

"Easy Inuyasha," he spoke against my jaw. "We don't want to ruin your outfit now do we?"

"Then stop being so fucking slow," I told him before I kissed him and snaked my tongue to the back of his month. I pulled it back before I choked him and toyed with the tip of his tongue. I felt him pulling the top off my arms, to have it fall at my feet. Then his hands were back at my waist pushing my hakama down to join my kimono top.

I leaned back against the door of the opened wardrobe as he kissed his way down my chest and over my belly that I sucked in from his touch. His hands reached the back of my thighs as they continued to move downwards. I rested one hand on his head and raked my claws through those midnight colored strands of his.

"AH!" I gasped as he licked me through my fundoshi. I eased my grip on his hair as he slid across to my thigh. I let him lift my legs out of the hakama, which left his hands to move back up along the back of my legs as he kissed up the front of me. He avoided my cock this time, but sucked on my nipple enough for me to feel blood break free of my skin. His hands were enjoying themselves with my ass while he did this to me.

"Your clothes Miroku," I told him as my hands tried to pull his robs down, but they didn't want to move and he already told me that I couldn't tear them. His mouth reached mine and he took my breath away when he pushed a finger into my ass as he sucked on my tongue.

"Ok," he said as he pulled away. He stepped back and watched me as he got undressed.

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Until a few minutes ago I thought that seeing Inuyasha in that outfit was the sexist that I had ever seen him until I stepped back and saw him as he was now.

Flushed skin, dazed half closed eyes, his hand gliding across his stomach as he his other hand held on to the corner of the wardrobe for support as his penis push up against his fundoshi with the cloth already wet in that area from pre-cum. Even that damned necklace shun with the sweat from his skin making him look even more beautiful.

I lost sight of him for a moment as I pulled my robes over my head before discarding my fundoshi. I walked back over him and smiled as I saw his breath quicken. My lips touched his before the rest of me did. I looped my thumbs into the side of his fundoshi as I pressed my penis to his. I rubbed against him until I heard him whimper into my mouth. That was my clue to release him from the last thing that kept me from completely touching all of him, and him me.

I pushed it down with my thumbs until they fell from my fingers and down off his body. I slid a leg between his and pressed up against his balls. He sucked the breath from me and I pulled back to regain some air. I smiled at his closed eyes. I moved my thigh back and forth under him and I felt him reach out for me. I looked down and saw his impressive penis twitching back and forth as it leaked and bubbled.

I knew that my own was doing the same when I felt something warm sliding down my skin.

"Come, Inuyasha," I said a little breathlessly as I started to pull him by the waist over to the bed. He warped his arms around me and we kissed again as we sank into the bed.

He scooted further onto the bed pulling me with him, and when he stopped moving I blissfully sank onto him between his legs. He warped his legs around my own pulling us painfully close.

"Do you want me in you that badly?" I asked him as I moved to his neck where I licked and kissed his skin as I rocked or hips together. I loved hearing him moan, it had little dog like sounds mixed in that made me want take him without waiting for his answer.

"Yes…" he breathed as I felt both of his hands holding on to my head. I slide my hand down over his stomach as I licked one of his nipples, letting my hand barely touch his shaft as I moved over his penis. I passed the palm of hand over his head and down the length of him for my fingers to get some of his cum. Then I got some more from my own wet cock to start preparing him. I had to push him down as I moved my fingers over his entrance before trying to get in. I sat back and watched him as he twisted and clutched at the bed sheets as I started to move my fingers in and out of him. I scoped up more pre-cum from both of us and continued until I had three fingers in and they were gliding in and out nicely.

I looked down as his sweat covered body as I sat between his legs. I placed my penis where my fingers had just been and leaned in to kiss him before I no longer had the breath for it.

"Yes…" he said when our lips were no longer touching and I started to push in. His voice got deeper and louder, just begging me to go as far in as I could go. The warmth was heaven, and the movements of his muscles were breath taking. As much as I wanted to stay, I wanted to move. The first few thrusts were slow to make sure the passage was smooth before going faster. I bit my lower lip and held on to his legs as my body took over. Everything was pushing me forward. The sound of his moaning as it mixed with my own. The look of him warped in ecstasy as he accepted me over and over again. I'm so close I could taste it at the back of throat. I bent lower over him placing my hands on either side of his chest. My eyes closed as I tried to get us both to come closer, to come to an end, to just come. I felt his leg around me again before I felt him squeeze onto me in spasms. Just trying to move with his tight grip on me soon had me joining him as I came also.

I fell unto him and he just held me until we were both breathing easier. I rolled over to the right of him and unto my back after I pulled out of him. I reached out and held his hand in mine as I looked at the inside of my eyelids. I liked this feeling. I felt tired but happy and so comfortable with hearing him breathing next to me.

"My turn," I heard Inuyasha say before I felt him move over me. I opened my eyes after I felt his lips on my chest, to find myself looking at his chest above my face. I reached up and licked at his skin as he moved lower dragging his beads over my skin that he already kissed. Soon I was presented with his penis that was once again hard. I didn't have to reach far to suck it into my mouth.

"Mmmmuuumm," I moaned onto his shaft as I felt his own tongue covering my balls and his lips kissing my responding penis. I followed his body as he moved to lie on his side. When he moved his leg to lay it across my side, I did the same to him. He was trying harder than I was at this at the moment, and I closed my eyes in appreciation. I held the base of his cock with one hand and rubbed up and down as I licked and sucked on its head, while he took all of me into his mouth. Moments would pass where it was just my hand on him as I moaned from what I was feeling from him.

"AAAHHH!" I shouted as I grabbed his leg with my free hand pressing my own beads into his flesh. I felt his teeth, then something sharp, and I couldn't stop from coming in his mouth.

"Don't go to sleep on me yet Miroku," I heard him say as he moved away from me. I had released his cock as I came, and was drifting when I saw his legs move past my eyes. I looked down to where I heard his voice coming from to see him starting to lift my leg.

"HHA!" I felt his finger as he pushed it into me. The sound I made wasn't from pain, but some warning would have been nice. I gripped the sheets as he now worked me with his fingers. I wished it was his tongue. The feel of his fingers and the memory of that slick long thing he called a tongue made me ready to receive him. I knew I was pushing back against this hand, but I couldn't help it.

"Oh no," Inuyasha said as I felt him take away his hand. "You aren't coming without me again." He shifted a little while still keeping my leg up. I closed my eyes and waited to feel him as he started to enter me.

"Ah…" There was the first push that almost nothing more than just a touch.

"AAahh." He pushed again until he popped into me.

"Hhhaaaa," was the sound drawn out of me as he pushed his full thick length into me. We paused and I could hear again, and I heard us. Our breathing was shallow and fast.

"Are you ready Miroku?" he asked after a moment. He knew I didn't heal as quickly as he did from this and was making sure I was really ready for him to move. I nodded my head, and my breath caught in my throat as I felt his hand push my thigh closer to my body.

"Aahh… hahaa." He was hot and he stuffed me over and over as I felt myself starting to shatter. I tried to hold on, gripping the sheets as if that would help.

"Hhhaa… Aah…" Bit, by bit I lost hold of it. I was pulled closer and closer to the body quaking feeling that I wanted.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," I gasped between breaths. I felt him lean lower over me as he started to move faster.

"hAA…. Yes, yes..." I lost my voice as I felt him expand in me and hot liquid hit and coated my walls and my sight turned white as I think I came.

Ya, I know. I just jumped tracks on you in this one. I think at the time I was thinking that this was a yaoi story and I should be writing a yaoi story with the expected lemons.

Also, I think I needed time to come up with something decent for what was going to happen next with Sess and Kagome. Despite what you see, I've never read a full story of those two and it's a new couple for me. So if anyone says that I took something from them I can say without batting an eye I didn't know of their version.


	27. Chapter 27

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

* 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 = Means that it's the same POV just a shift in time.

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Chapter 27

_That feels good._ The wind came back and ruffled my hair again as I sat under this tree looking at Rin and Shippo as they played and moved about the garden. I didn't really expect to find all of this when we were on our way here. I knew that Sesshomaru was a refined person for how he looked down at most people, but I expected something of a cold, clean bachelor type look for where he lived. There is so much color everywhere, and the gardens. This was the third one that Rin has taken me to since we finished getting our measurements taken.

That alone was an interesting event. It felt like I was one of those movie stars that had their clothes tailored. On my last visit home, the girls stayed over one night and we watched Katou Youji on "Choose Your Tie". It was a show that I hadn't seen yet, but I heard about it. We all blushed as the cameraman tried to sneak a shot of him in the dressing room when he was trying on the new outfit that the designer had made for him during the show. Now that sight pales in comparison to what I saw in person this morning. Ayumi would have fainted if she had seen Sesshomaru like that. _I haven't even told them that Inuyasha wasn't my boyfriend anymore. _

"Kagome!" Rin playfully shouted at me. I looked up to see the dark haired girl running towards me holding a crown of multi-colored flowers. I looked around for Shippo to see him running from around the other side of the house, not too far behind of Rin. She stopped in front of me and held out the colorful circle that had some of the flowers starting to wilt. I reached out and took the collection of flowers from her.

"Thank you Rin," I told her as I placed it on my head. I lifted my head when I heard her giggling.

"What's so funny?" I asked her. She was still laughing, but her little hand was over her mouth keeping most of the sound in.

"You have it on wrong," she said. She reached over and tuned it completely around so that a short hanging vine of three little bell flowers fell between my eyes.

"There," she said with a sound of accomplishment.

"Thank you Rin," I told her as she stepped back to look at me. "How do I look?" I asked her after a moment.

"Not bad," she answered. She walked around me and then I felt a tug. She was pulling on my hair.

"Did you find something in my hair?" I asked her hoping it wasn't a spider.

"No," she answered. "Kagome," she started. "Do you ever wear your hair up?" she asked.

"No, not really. Why do you ask?" I turned my head to look at the girl. She had crouched down next to me by this time.

"I think Sesshomaru-sama would like you better if your hair was up," she said way too easily. I looked over at Shippo, but he was looking at a bug or something moving through the flower bed not too far away.

"What makes you think that I want him to like me?" I asked before I thought better of it. "Well I would like to have him like me like a normal person, but it sounds like you said like, as in like, like. Did you mean like, like?" I ended up asking Rin.

"I mean like, like," she said smiling back at me.

I turned away from her not really knowing what to say now. _Do I keep saying that I didn't want him to like, like me when I already liked him? She already thinks that I like him and wants him to like me back. Why does she think that? Was I that plain? _

"Rin," I said as I started to pick at the grass next to me. "Why do you think I want Sesshomaru-sama to like, like me?" I asked her.

"A few things," she said. She started to fuss with the ring of flowers on my head. "You keep looking at him like how Sango looks at Kouga. And when Sesshomaru-sama looks at you, you keep blushing like a new serving girl that worked here last year. Amaya said that the girl liked Sesshomaru-sama even though she knew he could not like her back, but I think he could like Kagome back."

I sat still, horrified that I let it show so much. Why hadn't anyone told me I looked like a fool? I felt another tug, but it was on my sleeve this time.

"I like you, and I would like it if you stayed, but you can't stay unless Sesshomaru-sama likes you too," Rin confessed to me.

"That not true," I told her. "Sesshomaru-sama said that we can stay as long as we wanted, and when we leave, we won't be leaving for good. We'll come back," I told her as rubbed some dirt from her face.

"You promise that you will come back?" She asked.

"I promise," I promised her. She smiled again then started to talk of other non-Sesshomaru things.

I heard her happy voice as she talked away next to me. Every now and again I would nod or make a sound of agreement or questioning to keep her going on with her tale. I looked at the house and took in its clean beauty. I saw open windows on the second floor, and some on the first floor too. I glanced over the shaded ones but went back to one that I thought I saw something shine in. I thought it was a wind chime because it looked like metal and not glass, but there was nothing when I went back to that window. _How could it be wind chime? I would have heard it long before I saw it._

"Kagome?" I heard Rin faintly say before it really took a hold of my attention.

"Yes, Rin. Sorry, you were saying something?" I asked her as I turned my head back around.

"I was asking if you wanted to play on my swing with me," she told me.

"That sounds like a good idea," I told her as I started to stand. "How about we ask Sango if she wants to see your swing too, and play with us?" I asked her as I took her hand in mine.

"Shippo, are you coming?" I called over at him before we started to walk away.

"Coming," he said as I saw him kick something under a bush. We walked into the house and went back to the room were we had our measurements taken to see if Sango was still there. She was the last one to get measured and she had yet to pick out any outfits when we left her. When we peeked in, no one was there.

"I guess she must be up in her room," I said to no one in particular. "Rin, do you know where Sango's room is?" She seemed to have known at lunch when she said that Sango had gotten Sesshomaru's mother's room.

"Ya, I know where it. I'll take you there," she said before skipping out in front of me with Shippo at her side. We walked back the other way along the hall to reach the stair case leading up to the second floor. I was half way up the stairs when I heard the sound of a door opening. I looked back to see the head tailor leaving a room. I watched him glide down the hall and out of sight. I heard the front door open, I think, and then closed. I took two steeps when I saw the door open again. This time Sesshomaru walked out of the room and he looked up at me as I looked down at him.

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Flowers were on her head and the scent of the sun was coming off her. I looked up at her as she stood there looking back at me and I continued to hold her gaze.

"Come on Kagome," I heard Rin call her before I saw her hand reach down and pull the older girl up the last few steps of the stairs and out of my sight.

* * *

Rin, Rin, Rin. I was surprise that I had her bring up the hair question. But near the end I remembered what I was doing.

As always let me know if you see something I missed.

R&Rs are very welcomed.


	28. Chapter 28

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

* 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 = Means that it's the same POV just a shift in time.

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Chapter 28

We were laying on our sides on the bed with our arms around each other. His head was pressed against my chest with his arms around my hips. I held his head and my fingers moved over his hair, occasionally touching his ears.

_This was nice._ I thought as I drifted in and out of sleep like that for a while.

"Miroku?" I heard Inuyasha say.

"Yes, Inuyasha," I answered him bringing myself more awake then I really wanted to be.

"Who was the next person?" he asked.

"Next person for what?" I wasn't awake enough to really know what he was saying and lazily asked instead of trying to understand.

"That you were with before me," he mumbled back, but not soft enough for me not to hear. It didn't sound like he wanted to say it at all, but he still wanted to know. I rubbed his head a bit firmer and then thought about it.

"Ok," I said as I remembered how it started.

**His name was Akio. He was closer to my age then the childless mistress was, but he was older than me by at least five years. I was staying at a temple during that time. He told the head monk that he was on a pilgrimage and asked to stay at the temple for a few days. **

**We all thought that it was odd that he wanted to stay at the temple since he looked to be from a well off family. He could have had the best room at one of the good guest houses in the small town that wasn't too far away. **

**Since I wasn't a member of the temple, I was asked to look after him while he was there, so that the other monks wouldn't have to leave off their duties to make sure he wasn't left alone while he was there. I thought it was better than cleaning the floors and was happy to do it. Mostly I was just to explain to him what went on at the temple as we saw it, escorted him to meals for the first day or so and keep him company when he needed it beyond the first day or two of showing him how to take care of a few things. Like where the bathrooms were and the baths and showing him how to put on his set of robes. He couldn't wear his own clothes while he was there, but it wasn't the same robes as everyone else's. **

**When I first met him I didn't think much of him, but by the end of the day I thought that he was a nice guy. The first night I went to check on him before I went to my own room to sleep he kissed me. He said that it was his way of saying thanks for helping him that day. It was odd but nice and I shook it off by the time I saw him the next day to get him for breakfast. I called him from outside thinking that he might have been awake, but when he didn't answer, I opened his door and looked in. He was still in bed, so I walked in, closed the door and sat by his side as I tried to wake him. **

**I shook him a bit, not too hard at first since I didn't know how deeply he slept. But the only thing that happened was the movement of the blanket. It slid down and I saw that he wasn't wearing a shirt, but it didn't bother me or made me think anything. I shook him again a bit header and I called his name this time. **

**He finally woke up and I moved back a bit. When he saw me he said good morning and I said good morning. He continued to look at me until I told him that I came to get him for breakfast. He sleepily got up and walked over to where his robs were hanging. I was looking at his feet at first, but I looked up at him after he moved across the room, and there he was. Standing naked as the day he was born. I blushed slightly at the unexpected sight, but when he turned his head to look at me, I think he thought it was more than that. He turned completely around and walked back to where I was sitting and leaned in really close. He asked me if I liked the kiss from last night. I leaned back a bit and said that I didn't dislike it which was true. **

**He kissed me again and soon we were laying on the floor with him on top of me. **

"Ouch!" I shouted. "What was that for?" I asked as I looked down at Inuyasha. He bit me.

"I don't need to hear those kinds of details," I heard him say before I felt him hold me a bit tighter.

"I'm sorry," I told him. "I will try and leave out most of those things," I told him as I kissed the top of his head.

**Well, we did make it to breakfast just before it finished. Nothing happened really; I got him off of me by telling him that we were going to miss breakfast if we didn't leave soon. **

**The rest of the day was something like the first, nothing else happened. We had meditation time with the other monks and we were given chores to do. I knew it wouldn't have been that easy to get away from them. **

**I walked him to his room that night thinking that this should be the last time since he knew where his room was now when he surprised me and kissed me again as I was bidding him a good night's rest. **

**I asked him why he kept on doing that. I told him that it may be dark out, but I was male in case he somehow forgot. He said that he was very aware that I was male and that he liked me. I told him to get some sleep and I went to my room. **

**For two more weeks it went on like that. Near the end of the second week I was kissing him back. I asked him one day, how much longer he was going to stay at the temple. He said that he didn't know. He also said that he might not even leave if he could stay there with me. I was looking at him in shock when I heard someone calling for us. It wasn't night time and we weren't anywhere near his room. He walked ahead of me and I followed him to find the person who had called our names. **

**Another week went by and I was starting to like him that way and we were starting to spend time in his room at night. We hadn't gone all the way and I didn't really think that you could with a guy back then. **

**Another week passed while we were taking part in all the low level monk type actives together and I had moved into his room. I told everyone that I was too tired to come back to my room after helping him get to his after the fight training we were doing. No one thought twice about it, if they did, I didn't hear anything about it.**

**By this point, I was starting to really like him and I told him so and he told me the same thing. I started to show it a bit more often when we weren't in his room and he would get mad at me. I understood and I found a way to keep from touching him when there was a high chance of someone finding us. When I thought that no one would find us, he still wouldn't let me touch him until we hid further away to make really sure. Once or twice it bothered me a bit, but I thought that he was just making sure to keep our lives normal with everyone else there. **

**A month and a half in, we did it. We weren't even at the temple when it happened. We were on our way back to the temple from being sent out to deliver some things to a kampo store in the nearby town when we took a short cut to get back to the temple in time for dinner. We didn't see the rain coming towards us and soon we were wishing that we were still on the main road where we couldn't fall of a muddy road and down the side of a hill. We then saw something like a building up ahead. When we got closer to it, it was smaller than we expected, but it was built well and kept the rain out. We hung up our robes hoping they could dry a little by the time the rain was up and we could leave. We were just sitting close for warmth at first, then it turned into what it turned into. **

**When the rain stopped our robes were half dry and we were happy to find that someone had saved us some dinner by the time we made it back to the temple. We ate them in our room because I couldn't sit on the bench in the hall, but we used the fact of tables being cleaned as an excuse for not staying there. **

**That night, while I laid on my stomach, I asked him if he loved me. I figured that I loved him and I wanted to know if he felt the same for me and that was why he did what he did that afternoon. He kissed me and hugged me and said of course he loved me. He then asked me if I loved him. I told him I did and I kissed him before we finished up our meal. He took the bowls back to the kitchen and I got ready for bed. I was so tired and still too sore to think about anything else but sleep. **

**I was half asleep when he got back. He seemed to want to do more than just hug me and I told him that I still in pain. I thought it was just in my mind at the time, but I thought that he was disappointed with my answer, rather than understanding the pain I was in. **

**Another week passed by and every other day we did it until one time I told him no and he wouldn't stop. After that it wasn't sex anymore. At first I thought that he was upset over something I didn't know about and that this was the only way he was able to let it out. I wanted to talk it over with him but he stopped talking to me. Not that he talked that much before, but I felt relegated somehow. I soon understood why when he told me one night when I was crying as I asked him what changed. He told me that nothing changed. He was wasting time with me and had gotten impatient with waiting for it now that he had made me ready for him. I was cute and it was his luck that I got assigned to him in the beginning. Any of the other boys would have done it seemed to me. **

**He then went on to say all the things I did or looked like, that made him want to have sex with me more, and that was why he had to have every night. He then said that since I now knew, he didn't have to go easy on me anymore and that he was sure I could take it since I wasn't as young as some of the other males he had been with. I tried to fight back, but he was stronger than me but soon I just cowered thinking I was being beaten by that drunk of a monk again. The next day I hurt so bad that the one time I tried to stand blood ran down my legs. **

**He told the other monks that I wasn't feeling well and that he was going to look after me because of how well I looked after him when he first got there. I was laying on the other side of the wall while he told this to them. I didn't want to say anything because of the shame I felt. I knew it wasn't all mine, but I didn't know what to say to anyone about it.**

**I figured that it was time I left. I wasn't suppose to stay that long at the temple anyway. I'll just get better and then leave I told myself. Leave him and all this behind. He did help get me better I suppose, but he used me in others ways while I healed. **

**A day came when I thought that I was well enough to get away from him that night, when he got a letter at lunch time that made him leave me instead. I watched him get what few things he had together and saw him dress himself in those clothes that I hadn't seen him in since the first day that he got there. He had given me the letter when he walked in and I read it while I heard him starting to pack.**

**It was from a friend of his that was living in the capital. It said that it was safe for him to come back home because someone there had died. Since he was the first son, no one could stop him from calming what was his. I then realized the person who died was his father. There would be someone waiting for him at the town outside of the temple to escort him back. **

**I sat there as he pulled up the stakes that he placed I my life and I half felt sorry that I couldn't go with him. I still loved him even if he didn't love me anymore. Then I reminded myself that he never loved me at all. **

**He walked over and bent down in front of me. It's a shame you can't come with me, he told me. Masao would have liked playing with you too, but I don't think you would survive the journey, he said as he looked me over. I sat there looking at him, fighting hard not to cry thinking that he would… share me with someone else like that. He reached forward and tried to kiss me. I turned my head away before he could touch me. I expected him to hit me for doing that but he didn't. I felt him lean back away from me and heard him stand before I turned to look at him again. I wanted to see him leave. **

**Good bye Miroku he said, it's been fun. Then he left. He walked out and I laid back down and went back to sleep. At dinner time someone brought me something to eat and I thanked them before I was left to eat in silence. The next day I was up and out of that room to see the sun for the first time in about five days. I just walked around slowly since there was no rush to go anywhere now, besides I didn't want to explain why I was bleeding from back there if I tore it open. **

**Two weeks later I was saying my good-byes and thank-yous to everyone at the temple and moved on. **

I breathed a sigh as I finished telling my story. I hadn't gone through each detail in a long time.

"Inuyasha," I called to him when I realized that he hadn't said anything since the start of the story.

"Yes," he answered me.

"Did I say too much?" I asked him hoping I was wrong. I kept back a few details like he asked, even more so when I began telling him about when I was being raped. I wasn't going to push him to comment on it so soon, after all, I just told him a lot. I've had five years to deal with this in my own way and it still bothered me.

I felt him pull me closer as something wet hit my skin. He was crying. He was crying for me. I started to think of something to do to let him know that it wasn't so bad for me anymore.

I eased his grip on me and slid down until I saw his forehead. I kissed and hugged him close thinking that he wouldn't want me to see him crying.

"I'm better," I told him as I held him close. "It was years and years ago and I love you now. Let's get some sleep before we have to get ready for dinner," I told him as I kissed his forehead again, after moving away some of his bangs this time. I felt him nod against me and I tried to regain some of the sleepiness that I had before I told him about Akio.

"I love you Miroku. I really love you," I heard Inuyasha say. I then felt his lips on my skin before he laid his head to rest just under my chin.

"Thank you," was all I could think of telling him at the moment.

I started to feel tired faster than I expected. I accepted it as I closed my eyes. I smelled and felt Inuyasha around me as I started to dream of when he first told me he loved me.

**# ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ #**

**Kampō** (or Kanpō,) medicine - is the Japanese study and adaptation of Traditional Chinese medicine.


	29. Chapter 29

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Chapter 29

"Kouga!" I shouted as I jumped off the swing and ran towards him. I was so happy to see him that I almost didn't see Amaya as she walked back into the house. I threw myself against his chest and hugged him in welcome.

"How's my girl?" he asked as he hugged me back.

"I missed you," I told him. I pulled back and looked up into his eyes. I wanted to kiss him but the little ones were around.

"I missed you too," he answered back. I felt his hand on the back of my head as he pulled me forward. _Alright, I'll let him kiss me._ I told myself. I closed my eyes to feel his lips on mine. Instead I felt them on my forehead. I blushed when he pulled back, thinking that I should know better. He wouldn't kiss me in front of anyone until after we were mated. He said so himself.

"Kouga," Rin said as she ran over. Shippo had already beaten her over to my future mate's side. After Shippo had gotten his hug, Kouga reached over and patted Rin's head.

"Hello Kouga," Kagome said as she arrived.

"Hi Kagome," he answered in turn.

"We didn't think that you would be here so soon," she told him. I was hoping for him to show up for dinner and he did.

"I have to go see Sesshomaru before anything else. I should have seen him first, but I wanted see you first instead," he said to me. I blushed as I looked at him. _I was so lucky to have him._ I told myself. I laced my hand with his before saying.

"I'll come with you. Then I can show you where our room is." He smiled wider at me.

"I'll see you guys later," Kouga told the others before turning and walking back into the house with me.

"Amaya told me that I could find Sesshomaru in the library, when I told her that I wanted to see you first," he told me as we entered the hallway.

"Good, because I don't know where he would be or how to find any of the servants," I said as I walked next to him.

"I haven't been here in a while," Kouga casually said after a few moments.

"When were you here?" I asked him.

"Oh, sixty or so years back, I think. I was very impatient back then," he answered. I stood still for a moment. _Sixty years ago?_ I turned to look at him.

"I'm eighty nine this year come the winter cycle," he said when he realized I was having trouble asking him how old he was. I was still in a state of shock as he pulled me forward and into a walking motion.

_I'll ask him later._ I told myself. _He's a full demon, why did you just expect him to be your age for? I shouldn't have. _I answered myself. _He must have been with someone else before you, a demon for sure. What happened to them? How long …_

Kouga knocked at the library door. I let go of his hand and adjusted my outfit before taking his hand again just as we heard "Come" come from inside. We walked in and saw Sesshomaru standing behind a chair that was next to one of the five windows in the room. His eyes left what was outside and he turned to look at us as we came closer.

"Sesshomaru-sama," Kouga said before bowing in his direction. I wasn't sure what to do, so I nodded in his direction to so some respect for our host. "Thank you for letting me stay in your home. I am honored." I half felt that I should have just waited outside for him.

Sesshomaru nodded his head in kind and said. "It was nothing. Sango asked on your behalf and being a guest of my brother, I couldn't say no." He didn't say it in a way that made me think ill of him, but I still didn't know how to take it for some reason.

"Dinner will be in four hours, I look forward to seeing you there. I'm sure that you can add something to the topics of conversation." I saw his eyes dart to look out the window before coming back to us. "Have you been shown your room yet?" he asked Kouga.

"No. We were on our way there next," he said with a smile.

"If you need anything, let Amaya know," he said as his body slowly moved back to facing the window.

"Thank you Sesshomaru-sama," Kouga said.

"Thank you," I chimed in also. Sesshomaru turned his back to us and for some reason Kouga smiled at him before we walked out.

"I wonder what he was looking at out there?" I asked Kouga as we started to walk up the staircase.

"I think it was Rin," he said after a moment. "He has changed," he added before he pulled me closer. "Babe, do you think you could wash my back for me? I'm so tired," Kouga commented after his little request.

"Sure," I said as I led him to our room.

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"I thought you said that you were tired?" I asked Kouga as I managed to pull away. The water splashed and droplets clung to our skin.

"What can I say? Seeing you like this energized me." Kouga covered my mouth again and I gripped the edge of the tub to keep from sliding down into the water again. Although this time, he was pressed up against me keeping me from going anywhere.

"Mumm," I moaned into his mouth. I pushed at him again when he started to move faster than I wanted. I finally had him an arm's length away, with my chest heaving in time with his that just happened to be under my hands.

"First your back, then sex," I told him as I gave him time to cool down. Slowly his eyes went back to normal. When they were closer to his normal shade of purple, I relaxed my arms. "Turn around," I said as I reached for the soap and the scraping stone again.

The ones we had back at my village were made of stone, but this one was a nice deep green piece of jade. I lathered up his back while I held the jade in my teeth. I moved my fingers over old scars and the wide expanse of his back. I slid my hands over his ribs which caused him to flinch and cry out in a laugh.

I laughed at his reaction as I put the soap back and took the jade from my mouth. I then scraped my way down from the top of his shoulders and I managed not to tickle him again.

"Ok," I told him as I washed off his back for the last time. "You are on your own for the rest of your bath."

"I like that scraping thing," he said as he turned around. I started my own bath as I watched him disappear under the water. I wasn't planning on taking a bath this early, but who was I to complain about taking a bath with Kouga?

I was looking down at my breasts as my soapy hands moved over them when I saw him stick his head part way out of the water and inched closed.

"Are you trying to stalk me from down there?" I asked him as he stopped right in front of me. He just looked at me with his darkening eyes as I felt his hands on the side of my thighs. My stomach did a flip as his hands moved higher. I washed the soap off as his face emerged fully from the water.

I reached out and griped his upper arms as his face came closer to mine. I closed my eyes and opened my mouth just a little and leaned down waiting for him. This time my wait was answered and well worth it. He didn't just kiss me, he drank me in. One hand was on the small of my back while the other one was higher up, but both were pulling me into him.

We moaned to each other as we continued our kiss. I began wrapping my legs around him and he pulled them up unto his body as they slipped past his waist. He held me there as I moved my hands to his head and as our tongues licked and tasted the inside of each other's mouth. By the time I realized that was moving my hips against him, I knew that I had been doing it for a while. I only truly realized what I was doing when something changed. He was hard and poking me in a very interesting and exciting way.

"Sango, do I need to prepare you? Or are you ready for me?" he asked as he stopped kissing me to look into my eyes as his hot breath heated my cheeks.

"As if you can't smell the answer to your question," I huffed at him. He's never had to ask me that question before, but this might be the first time where he hasn't already done something to get me to that point. Normally he told me when I was ready.

"The real question," I said as I leaned in and licked his nose. "Is what," I moved down and licked his top lip. "You are going to do about it," I grabbed his lower lip with my teeth and sucked on it as I let it go. I kept my eyes closed as I heard the sound start to rumble up from his chest and over the lips I just tasted. I felt his face as it touched mine when he kissed my neck and licked up to my ear.

"Lay back," he told me as he started to take my legs from around his waist. I released my hands from his head and moved them backwards to help ease me down. My hands pressed down unto the tiles that spread out from the tub's edge as I felt him move in between my legs and his member bounced against my opening.

"You do smell great," he said as he started to slide into me.

"aAaaahhh," I lowly moaned as he slid all the way into me. _I never want to get use to this._ I told myself. This was too good to take for granted. He didn't stop because he hit my womb, but because he was in me up the base of his manhood. I squirmed and flexed on the outside as well as the inside. _So full. _His hands were on my waist, but they started moving up my sides and I watched him as he lowered his body over mine.

I closed my eyes and felt him as pulled out of me while he kissed and sucked on my breast. He rammed back into me for the first time and my nipple popped from his mouth. He did it again and again and again. I arched up into him and he held me down as he did it again. _Closer, closer, I'm getting closer._ My mind filled with what was going through my body. He moved faster making his strokes into me shorter. I wanted to keep my legs around him but he pushed them back to my body with his arms as I arched up more and more to him. He held my legs up as I laid back against floor that came up the rim of the tub. My hands had long ago given up trying to support me.

Words came from my mouth that I wasn't too embarrassed to say right now. I heard him saying similar words that helped in the twisting of my insides. Sparks started to go off inside of me. I moaned louder as I felt him get bigger in me. I gripped the inside of the tub harder as he hit me with determination as he tried to go deeper. Tears ran down my face as I came twice in quick succession before Kouga came in me adding his warmth to my own. He laid his head between my breasts as he wrapped his arms around my body holding me close as he spasmed into me. I could now wrap my legs around him but I didn't have the strength to.

When his weight became more of a burden then the reassuring weight that it was at the beginning I nudged him.

"Kouga, is something wrong?" I asked when he hadn't moved yet.

"Ha?" he asked he started to move.

"I was asking you if something was wrong. You weren't moving," I told him as he sat back into the tub. I sat up and moved back into the tub also. I felt grateful that the water was warm as it flowed over my skin.

"No, nothing is wrong," he said as he motioned to me for the soap. I handed it to him and he did a quick soap up and handed it back to me. _If nothing was wrong, why didn't he look ok to me?_ He rinsed and thoughtfully looked at me as I did the same.

"What's wrong?" I asked him again as we walked into the bedroom.

"Nothing is wrong," Kouga said again. He dried off, spending some time on his tail, before he slipped into bed naked.

"Do you expect me to believe that?" I asked him as he fitted a pillow to the crook of his neck. I sat on the edge of the bed and looked at him with my towel wrapped around me. I saw the robes, but I still didn't feel right using them.

"I was just thinking," he said as he breathed out and turned to look at me. "I was just thinking that getting you pregnant would be a good thing and how I would feel happy looking down into the eyes of a little girl or boy that had your eyes and my tail and lovely black hair." His eyes had trailed away from my face, but he raised them as he spoke again.

"I know we can't and I don't blame anyone. Except maybe Naroku, but I understand and I'm willing to wait. It was just a passing thought that's all," he finished with a soft look to his features. I crawled up the bed to kiss him on his nose before I gave him a loving kiss on his lips.

"Come to bed. I'm tired and I sleep better with you next to me," he said as he pulled the towel off of me.

"Are you really tired?" I asked him as I slid under the covers next to him.

"Yes," he answered as he kissed me then laid his head on my shoulder. "But it will be nice when we can have little ones running around or sleeping next to us at night," he said as I felt him rubbing my arm.

"Yes it will be," I answer him back. A worrying notion went through my mind as my fingers combed his hair repeatedly.

* * *

I thought that it was time that I gave them some air time. :)


	30. Chapter 30

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Chapter 30

"Thank you again Amaya," I said as I closed the door and made my way back to bed.

"Kouga," I said as I shook his shoulder. He moaned and reached across the bed for me in the wrong direction. He reached out two more time before he realized that I wasn't there. "Kouga," I said again. His eyes soon found me looking down on him from the other side of the bed. He smiled and stretched out this frame under the covers.

"Yes Sango," he answered as his hand moved around scratching parts of his scalp.

"We have an hour until dinner and I was wondering if we could get ready early and go for a walk before then?" I asked him as he laid a hand on my thigh. His hand rubbed the soft fabric and then his eyes adjusted again as he looked at what I was wearing.

"Sure," he said as he pulled slightly to see what it was made from rather than to pull it off of me.

"Where did you get this?" he asked after a moment. His fingers were now sliding over the pattern of embossed lines.

"Kagome got it for me last year. She said it's made from something called 'terry' cloth," I explained. He looked at it bit longer, moving his hands over large areas until it slipped from my legs and my thighs. Once they were exposed Kouga's warm hand moved higher and under the belt.

"You said you wanted to go to on a walk?" he asked me as he sat up and kissed my neck.

"Yeah, that was what I asked," I told him as I my mind opened up to the idea of doing something else.

"Would you mind having that walk after dinner?" he asked me as both his hands pulled the knot free from the belt.

"I guess not," I answered with my eyes closed. My hand found the back of head as I felt him kissing below my collar bone.

"Then how about we get ready a bit later for dinner?" he asked across my chest in breaths as he pulled the robe down unto my arms.

"Alright," I stated. "AH!" I exclaimed and gripped his hair as he bit my nipple then sucked on it to replace any pain I felt with something warmer.

"Yeah, getting dressed can wait," I said when I could speak again. At this Kouga held my waist and lifted me to lay my body across the bed. The robe decided to fall from me and lay in a white puddle on the floor.

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Huffing and puffing sounds could be heard coming from the dojo. No one was around to see the sweating half naked figure going through moves and attacking the air around him. His mokomoko, from years of practice, was never in his way as he moved quickly from one position to the next. At times it was given it own target to aim for to make sure that it could still be counted on when it was needed.

He didn't do any sword play today. Saving that for tomorrow when he would engage his half-brother in another lesson. Another day he would have a hand to hand match with him, but right now he just wanted to be by himself.

He stopped and stood still as he breathed the hot air of room in and out before walking over the fresh buckets of water. He reached for a piece of cloth to wipe the sweat out of his eyes when he heard a knock at the door. He looked up and saw a female's hand on the door, but before he could speculate as to who it was, their scent came to him.

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"Yes Amaya," I called to her as I raised the rag to my face. She stood just inside door and bowed.

"Dinner will be ready in an hour Sesshomaru-sama, and I've already notified everyone," she said. She stood there waiting.

"Anything else?" I asked her as I took a seat on one of the mats that were around the room.

"The … female hunter has requested a special tea Sesshomaru-sama. It doesn't have a pleasant smell and I wished to notify you before hand," she ended.

"Is that all?" I questioned her while thinking of a number of reasons for the tea. Most of them had to do with the fact that she was a female.

"Yes Sesshomaru-sama," she answered.

"Very well then," I told her. I picked up my shirt and walked towards her. I was heading to my room and its bath when I stopped.

"Where is the one called Kagome?" I asked Amaya.

"She is in the library Sesshomaru-sama," she informed me. I moved past her and down the hall towards the stair case.

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"The mountains in autumn  
there are so much fallen leaves,  
looking for my lost wife  
I cannot find the path."

I closed the book and looked down at the cover. "Manyoushuu". It was in such good condition that it only made me happier at finding it at all. Three or so months ago it was part of a project for my Japanese class. I wished that I could have gotten a copy of the book after I had finished with my project but the few copies that I found, when I remembered to look for it, were well worn with notes written in it or truly falling apart. Finding this book this far back in time means that it has to be one of the first copies of the book ever made.

Amaya had found me three poems back, but I wanted to read some more before going to my room to get ready, but I couldn't put it off any longer. I got up and walked over to the shelf lifting the book to put it back in place among the scrolls, when the idea of using one of my book marks to mark my page came to mind. I turned around with the book in hand and walked towards the door.

I stepped into the hallway to see something white moving away from me. I turned my head to see the graceful fall of ankle length silver hair over pale skin that shone with dampness. He turned to move up the stairs when he saw me. He stood looking at me with one foot on the ground and the other on the first step up. I looked for a moment until I felt the door in my hand again and closed it.

_I have to go to my room._ I told myself as I started to walk forward. He seemed to wait for me as I got nearer.

"Sesshomaru-sama," I said when I got close enough. _Smile your little heart out._ I smiled up at him waiting to see if he would say anything.

"Kagome," he acknowledged before tilting his head. I bowed my head like wise. I started up the stairs, and he stayed in time with me. I felt the heat radiating off of his body. The subtle smell that was his was a lot stronger at the moment. I turned and walked in the direction of my room when I realized that he was still with me. I had already forgotten that his room was beyond mine in the same direction.

His smell came to me again as we walked on. I remembered when I first smelled it. It was the first time I wrapped him in bandages. Inuyasha was helping to hold him up, but I had to press against his body to wrap all the way around his torso.

I blushed now as I remembered the warmth I felt when I was pressed against him. I glanced at his chest now to see how it had healed. I saw muscles and flesh move under pale smooth skin that only had a few disappearing scars that once covered his whole chest and most of his abdomen.

I looked up at his face when I felt his eyes on me.

"I was wondering how well you healed," I told him before turning to look down the hall again. We walked the length of an unknown room when I heard him speak.

"You like those pages?" he asked. It wasn't a flat a question as I expected it, but I wasn't going to use that as an excuse to not take it in the spirit I hope it was meant.

"Yes I do. I've read them before and I was happy to find it here," I told him as I held it a bit closer.

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_Read them before? How could she have read them before?_ There are very few copies of them in the world. This brought up all the other questions I wanted to ask her.

"Where did you read these pages before?" I asked as I turned to face her. She tilted her head back to look up at me before dropping her gaze.

"I read them at home," was her reply.

"This must be an interesting home you have," I told her. I wanted to say her name, but I couldn't and I wouldn't let myself call her ningen again. She was more than that to me now, even if she didn't know it.

"Where is your home?" I asked her to find out if she would tell me the truth. She fidgeted and stammered a bit before she gave me an answer.

"It's very far away, you wouldn't know the name," she said. I'm sure I wouldn't know of this place that has these strange clothes that I see her wearing or the odd food she eats, or that has three hundred year old books for such a young girl to read.

"What do you know of these pages?" I asked her. I was going to make this an issue. I needed to know more about her.

"I just know that they are very old and that most of the poems don't say who wrote them," Kagome answered. She hasn't looked at me since I started looking at her and her heart beat was faster than normal when she's around me. This isn't a lie; it's just a very removed statement about the book. She is not telling me everything. She is lying to me I realize. She was lying by omission.

"My father was given those pages three hundred years ago by a traveling monk who gave them to him hoping that he would spear his life when he got caught in the middle of one of my father's wars. The monk was willing to hand over the only copy he had in exchange for his life, but father told him to make an exact copy to give him instead. The monk had traveled to and from the land of Chin across the eastern sea where he saw how to fold and cut pages like this and father wanted his own, without taking the only copy of a ningen thing. The monk was brought to this house to make that copy and when it was completed he was taken away from here to continue on his travels."

I looked at her as she looked up at me. "At the time my father received this, there were only two such copies. The monk was even brought back to add pages to this collection for six years until he either believed it to be finished or died." I took a step towards her and she backed into a wall. I came closer still, but I didn't touch her. I placed my arm next to her head and came dangerously close to her large liquid blue eyes.

"You have not told me what I wanted to hear Kagome. Decide on what you will tell me at dinner, when I ask you again where you are from and I expect to hear the truth. The complete truth or I may reconsider our growing … friendship," I finished on a quite note. I felt a twinge of something from having to threaten her for answers to my questions, but I needed to know. I raised my other hand to touch her chin, then to hold it in place as I lowered my lips to her own. I was a hair's breath away when I decided against it and moved my lips up to her forehead. She may decide not to tell me and I would be left with the memory of her kiss. The feel of her lips on my own would disturb me as much, if not more than her smiles had while we were apart.

I stepped back and looked at her. Her face was flushed and yet as red as always. I don't think that she could have clutched those pages any tighter without damaging them and her whole body was still pressed against the wall.

"Until dinner," I told her and then walked on to my room. I heard her take a step, then two before I turned the corner.

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**Manyoushuu** ("ten thousand leaves") - was the earliest anthology of Japanese poetry, dated back ca. 759. I'm not sure how it came about, so my story about that is just another story. I did not make up the poem that you read. That is real.

**Dojo** - is a Japanese term which literally means "place of the Way". The concept of a dojo as a martial arts training place is a Western concept. The term can refer to a formal training place for any of the Japanese _do_ arts.

**The Land of Chin** – Don't know when they stopped calling China that, but I liked how it sounded and I could be right that it would be called that at this time.


	31. Chapter 31

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Chapter 31

"He kissed her," Rin said with aw and happiness in her voice as she turned to Shippo who had also seen it.

"You were right," Shippo told her. "They do like each other."

"But what were they talking about Shippo? Tell me," Rin happy demanded of her friend.

"It was really soft," he started. "But I think he said that he's going to ask her something at dinner and he wanted her to think about it," he finished.

Rin's eyes grew wide.

"Yes, yes, yes," Rin squealed as she jumped around the room as thoughts that were once tucked away in her head were pulled out and attached to a girl named Kagome.

"What is it?" Shippo asked her in puzzlement as he watched her move around the room. She looked very happy, but why? He didn't know. Rin ran back to his side and knelt next to the door again.

"He's going to ask her to marry him," she said almost breathlessly.

"Hah?" Shippo questioned. "Demons don't get married," he told her.

"But humans do and she's human," she argued back. "We'll bet on it then," she said when it still looked like he didn't believe her.

"What are we betting?" he asked her as he thought of some of her things that he would like.

"More boy games," Rin stated.

"Hah?" he asked again.

"If you win, we'll play more of your boy games," she told him. Shippo thought about this. It wasn't the kind of prize he was hopping for, but he was getting tired of things that involved flowers all the time.

"Ok, but what do you want if you win?" he asked her, hoping that it would also be something just as odd, but didn't include flowers.

"Nothing," she answered him.

"Nothing?" Shippo asked her to make sure he heard correctly.

"I'm already getting a dairihaha, I don't need anything else," she told him. Shippo looked at her for a while before standing up.

"Then we should get dressed for dinner," he told her when she hadn't moved.

They were both soon dressed and the first to reach the dinning room. They took the same seats that they had at lunch and waited for everyone else.

The next to show up were Miroku and Inuyasha. While Miroku was once again in his black and purple colored robes, Inuyasha was wearing something new again. It was the same color as the one he wore for lunch, but the sleeves were a different length and there were no patterns to be seen this time.

Rin greeted each, in her known for happy altitude, where as Inuyasha gave a general greeting to both youngsters. Miroku was a bit more outgoing and greeted each one in turn and asked them how they spent their afternoon.

They relayed their actives, with each talking a turn as they spoke. Miroku heard about flowers and weeds and fish in a pond. Flower crowns, blushing, Sango and swings. They talked some more about finding bugs, Kouga, digging and a game of tag.

"I knew I smelled wolf when I came downstairs," Inuyasha told no one in particular when they had finished. He didn't hate Kouga anymore, but he still seemed to rub him the wrong way.

Next to enter the room was Sesshomaru. He wore a simple white outfit that had a few red blossoms that were scattered across the outfit randomly. Rin was the first to greet him, but he nodded to everyone once he reached his seat at the table.

"Inuyasha," he said after a moment. "Tomorrow you have combat lessons to attend. Do you remember where the Dojo is?" he asked.

"Yeah, I remember," Inuyasha replied. "So how early are we going to start?" he asked him.

"An hour before breakfast then we continue until lunch," Sesshomaru answered him.

"Sesshomaru-sama, can we come and watch?" Rin asked him.

"Yes, you both may come," he told her.

"Come where?" was heard from the door way. Everyone turned and saw Kouga as he walked into the room holding Sango's hand.

"Good evening everyone," Kouga said as he took the seat next to Sango separating her from Miroku. He speared a glance at Inuyasha but he didn't saying anything to him. He now knew how dumb it was to start a fight with him in front of Sesshomaru.

"Is Kagome going to be late again today?" Inuyasha asked the room. He was hungry since they were told to get ready for dinner an hour ago.

"I'm going to see what is keeping her," he said as he stood up.

"I'm right here Inuyasha," Kagome said from the door as she walked in. "You don't have to come looking for me."

"What took you?" he asked as he sat back down.

"None of your business," she said as she looked over the table. Tonight she won't have a choice of where to sit and asking anyone to change seats would cause more questions to be asked before the one question that she wasn't really ready to answer.

She had come to the conclusion that it wasn't a bad thing that Sesshomaru wanted to know. If anything it was time to tell him where she came from. She paused to look at him a bit longer than the others when she said good evening to everyone. It wouldn't be hard for him to believe that she came from the future considering that this was the person who pulled his own father's grave from within Inuyasha's eye.

"Sorry I'm late Sesshomaru-sama," she said as she took the set again between him and Rin.

"You are not late," he told her. Sesshomaru was looking at her as she made her way over to him and then sat down, but he turned away when he spoke to her. No one argued with his statement. Kagome bowed her head before her started blushing at the unexpected comment. Rin lightly poked Shippo when she saw this to prove her point. He still showed disbelief at her theory.

Sesshomaru called for Amaya and the dance that was done for lunch was once again preformed for the serving for dinner. Only three people were aware or took notice that Sango received something different to drink with her meal.

The meal was a pleasant one with Rin and Shippo relaying the details of their afternoon once again for everyone who wasn't there for the first version. Inuyasha was more interested with the meal at hand and even surprised everyone one when he called for Amaya and she came back into the room and stopped at his side of the table. The expression on his face showed that he didn't expect that to happen either, but he took full advantage of it all the same and requested seconds of everything. His gratitude was clearly shown when he told her thank you before digging in.

Kagome turned out to be the quietest at the table that night. Sesshomaru was able to speak more than her when he held a rather long conversation with Kouga and then Sango when he was told that she would be helping to take care of Kouga's clan once they were mated.

It was an odd complement coming from him. Sesshomaru didn't say it, but it was commonly known that the few ningen females who decided to mate demons, didn't take on much, if any of the responsibilities that concern their mates. They were looked on as prizes in addition to being their beloved one, with nothing truly expected of them other than being easy on the eyes, fateful and perhaps producing a child or two.

Miroku chanced the life of his chopsticks as he captured a fish cake from Inuyasha's bowl when it looked like he had eaten all that he wanted. Sango and Shippo looked on to see how that would turn out while no one else took too much notice. Shippo gagged slightly on come pork that he was chewing as he watched Inuyasha smile at Miroku and slid what he hadn't eaten over to him.

Rin patted Shippo's back to make sure that he could breathe again by the time she stopped. Inuyasha looked up at the kitsune with a clear warning to not make anything about it. His eyes then flickered to Sango who showed some surprise, but not so much that he thought she would say anything about it.

The meal ended and they were treated with honey glazed squares of red been cake that was served with green tea. Everyone was finishing up and thinking of getting up from the table when Sesshomaru spoke.

"Where are you from Kagome?" Sesshomaru asked her. She placed her chopsticks down before looking up and at everyone around the table.

"Tokyo," she answered him after a moment.

"Where is this Tokyo? I haven't heard of it," he said as took another bit of the cake.

"It's here in Japan," she told him. "In fact, it's the capital of Japan," she added. Sesshomaru placed his chopsticks down next to the last of his cake and turned to look at her.

"Kyoto is the capital of Japan," he stated.

"Well, it is the capital of Japan now," she said as she looked up at him.

"Now?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's not so much a question of where I come from, as it is when I come from," Kagome started. "I'm from the future," she ended.

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_The future? _My mind paused. _I have not known her to lie to anyone, so how is this possible?_ I reached out for my tea and took a few sips. I looked back at her.

"How far in the future do you come from?" I asked her. Something in her face changed before she answered my question.

"About five hundred years give or take a few years," she said with a smile on her face. _She is telling the __truth. _

"Why was it so hard for you to tell me this?" I asked her. I didn't need this kind of display of asking her, to receive this answer, but she had her chances to tell me before now and she didn't take them. She could have stopped all of this earlier and just told me when I asked her in the hallway.

"Tell you? She hasn't told me this either. The future?" Kouga exclaimed from his seat at the table. He then looked over at Sango.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked her.

"I couldn't, it wasn't my secret to tell. Besides, I told Kagome that she had to tell you once we were mated and she agreed," Sango informed him. I was happy with the small fact that I wasn't the only one that she had kept this secret from.

"I'm sorry Kouga. I just got use to keeping it a secret that it was hard to not keep it a secret anymore," Kagome said looking at the yōkai wolf. I looked at him making sure that he wouldn't advance on her verbally or physically. I will not tolerate her get getting hurt, especially in my presence. I watched his body became less defensive and his muscles as they relaxed.

"It's alright," he said with an exhaled breath. "After all it wasn't like you weren't ever going to tell me."

Her eyes then moved back to me, waiting to see if I also had forgiven her for her concealment. I had a few questions left to ask her, like how was she able to move between both times?

"Is our friendship safe?" she asked quietly with her large liquid eyes. I was wondering if she knew that I felt like I had to catch my breath every time she looked at me that way?

"Yes," I simply stated before reaching for my cup again.

Tea was drunk and the last of the cake eaten before everyone stood in turn and left the dining hall. Everyone that is but Kagome and myself. I didn't ask her to stay, but she stayed until after I sent Rin off to her room for the night with instructions to go to bed soon with the kitsune in tow.

_Now what am I suppose to do?_ Out of the corner of my eye I really took in her appearance for the first time tonight. Her hair was mostly pulled back from her face while it came down her neck in the back with a few strands curved over her forehead. Her top was crossed in front where one part was hidden behind another that was tied off at her side. It was deep green in color with slim sleeves that reached her wrists. Her sukooto was close to the same green of her shirt at her waist, but then I saw it fade to a darker color, black I believed.

I placed my empty cup on the table and thought about standing and going to the library when I turned to look at her fully. Her hands were on the table in front of her holding her own cup.

"Do you wish to ask me something?" I asked her when she still said nothing.

"I was waiting for you to ask me some other questions," she said before looking up from her cup to me. _She wanted to get this over with it seems._ I don't think that she will be able to answer all my questions tonight since I will have more in the future.

"How are you able to move through time?" I asked her. _Will she now tell me that she is also not fully ningen even though she smells very much like one?_

"The Bone Eater's Well seems to have a link with my time. I was pulled through it by a demon by the name of Mistress Centipede on my fifteenth birthday. I went near the well to look for my dumb cat that day. After I was pulled through I found out that the demon found me and was able to pull me through because the Shikon Jewel was embedded in my body at that time."

_She seemed to me be telling me everything without holding back now. I wonder if this will just give her more to talk to me about when we're alone again. _I stood and looked down at her.

"Would you mind telling me how you know of those pages in the library?" I asked her.

"No, I wouldn't mind," she answered as she stood and started to walk towards the door. I thought about moving ahead of her and opening the door like I've been doing since she got here, but for a moment I tried to talk myself out of it before I found myself standing in front of her with my hand on the door.

My eyes shifted between her and the door and back to her again as I heard light little feet running towards the stairs. Just before she was close enough to touch it, I opened the door and walked through to wait for her on the other side.

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"Well?" Shippo asked Rin as she ran back into their room. He had been too scared of being found by Sesshomaru to stay with her downstairs.

"I was wrong. I think," she told him after she closed the door.

"Ok. What did they say then?" he asked as she sat down on the floor next to him.

"They were just talked about how she came here then they went to read a book in the library," she said sounding disappointed.

"So he didn't ask her to marry him then?" Shippo asked her.

"No," Rin said, but quickly added. "But I still think they like each other." The two of them sat there on the floor for a while, thinking over their own questions and thoughts until they seemingly decided it was time for bed and went to sleep.

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**Dairihaha** – surrogate mother (I was told that 'step parents' don't really take the place of dead parent of a child they take of. It's a respect thing. So I figured that even the children knew this and that in my story, Rin would want a 'mother', but knew that she wouldn't really be her mother.

**Sukooto** - (n) skirt (I think that is the only time I will use that word, but I can't promise that)


	32. Chapter 32

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Chapter 32

"Books," he rolled the word around his mind and tongue before continuing. "Are common in the future?" Sesshomaru asked as Kagome picked up the book that he had seen her with earlier that day. He had just assumed that her training as a miko had included reading and writing lessons, not because where she came from had places where such lessons were given to anyone who made the time.

"Yes, very common," she answered him. "In some parts of the city, there are nothing but book stores selling books on everything there is."

"And this school," Sesshomaru continued. "Anyone can go there for lessons?" Kagome looked pleased and happy that he was talking and asking her questions. She didn't know how long it was going to last but she was going to enjoy this.

"Yes," she answered him with a smile. "We start school from the age of five. Although some kids stop when they reach the age of fifteen, sixteen when they are suppose to move from junior high to senior high school. But most stay in school until they complete senior high school three years later before they get a job. As accepted as this is, it's still expected of you to move on to another school called a university. There you pick something that you like and be taught what you need to know to be able to do that job."

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This is odd. He's just sitting there and listening to me. I think he's listening to me. He hasn't looked away or even scowled at me. I know I'm staying too much, but I'm too nervous and happy to stop myself.

"Have you read this book?" I asked him after he had been quiet for a while. His eyes changed and I had this sinking feeling. _Is he mad at me for asking him a question? He can't be mad at me for asking one question!_

"I never really read the 'book'. I glanced at it once when I asked of how it came to be in this library. I started to read the first poem in the 'book' after I looked it over, but I was pulled way to do my studies and I haven't gone back to look at it since," he ended.

"Your studies?" I asked him. He makes it sound like he was a child at the time. "How old were you?" I asked a bit softer. He was sipping from a white cup that he placed back on the table next to him. When we came into the room there were two cups and a pot of hot tea sitting on a table next to a window and a chair. I wondered how they knew that we were going to be there unless he normally came here himself after dinner.

"The exact year I don't remember, but I do recall that I was in my fifties at the time," he answered. _His fifties?_ I had forgotten how old he really was. It was one of maybe two questions that he had answered when I took care of him. I felt cautious now for some reason. Maybe I was being told not to push my luck with my questions. I held the book in my hands as I stood.

"Would it be alright if I could take this book to bed with me?" I asked him as I looked slightly down into his face.

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_She was leaving? Now that I was willing to talk with her she would rather leave?_

"Have you actually run out of questions to ask me Kagome?" I asked her while she stood looking at me. She blinked repeatedly like a little creature.

"Awhm," she started. "I didn't feel like pushing my luck now that you were talking back to me," she said as she slightly looked away. _So that was her reason for trying to leave_.

"Would you stay if I asked you to?" I asked her, and then watched as she thought this over with something of a blank look on her face. Only her eyes held signs of the life that was in her body.

Whether or not she stayed I had my own documents to read. I would have enjoyed having her here while I did that, but I can't force her to stay if she was starting to feel uncomfortable around me. I stood and took the tray of tea with me over to the large table that already had my scrolls opened on it. I saw Kagome turn as I walked past her with the tea.

I sat down and started to turn my attention to my work when I heard her walking towards me. A revised map of the north western border by a town called Shimukappu occupied most of my vision. She sat to the right of me, on the other side of the tray with the warm chai tea, and opened her book. By the time I allowed myself to actually look at her she was moving one of the folded pieces of paper to read what was on the other side.

I turned back to the map and estimated how much further the village had ventured into the surrounding wood lands since last year to see if they were in danger of coming too close to another demon's or war lord's territory. I heard as another piece of paper was turned over at my side as it brushed against her finger tips and the smell of her with the mix of old scroll paper and the warm wet smell of the tea entered my senses and made me consider giving her a kiss for having answered my question, but this was not the time.

I enjoyed the smell and knowledge of her presence as I tried to think of my current ruling problems at hand.

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_I'M MOVING!_ I tried to steady myself but I felt arms that were around my body tighten to hold me still. My eyes snapped open and there was Sesshomaru's face moving under the ceiling. He moved in and out of the light, glowing when the candle light hit him and then radiating light when he was surrounded by darkness.

I looked in front of us to see that we were on the second floor. I must have fallen asleep in the library and he was carrying me to my room. _How come I didn't feel him when he was walking up the stairs never mind when he first picked me up?_

_This was nice_. I thought. _Being held by him like this._ I reached a hand up and slowly pressed it against his chest. As I felt his warmth move into my finger tips he stopped. I quickly looked up and saw him looking down at me. I felt him lowering me before my visual point of view started to shift. I gripped his shirt to keep myself steady before my feet touched the floor.

It must have been the darkness or the play of light, but his eyes didn't look the same. They looked more like they did when he asked me how old I was. I felt like they were asking me something now and my eyes wavered. I lowered my head and saw that I had fisted my hand into shirt.

"Sorry," I said as I let go and tried to take a step backwards. I realized then that his arms were still around me. He tightened his hold and I looked up into his face as he came closer.

"Thanks for… carrying me, but I can walk to my room now," I said as he inched closer. I saw his jaw clinch before he moved back. His hands were sliding down and away from my back when it hit me. HE WAS GOING TO KISS ME AND I STOPPED HIM. My hands shot up and gripped his face as I pulled myself up to kiss him instead.

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**Shimukappu** - is a village located in Yufutsu District, Kamikawa, Hokkaido, Japan.


	33. Chapter 33

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

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Chapter 33

"Kagome," was accompanied by knocks at my door as I slowly tried to not open my eyes. I turned my head to look at my window. The light coming in through the gaps weren't even a shade of white yet. _It's so early. _

"Kagome," came the call again.

"Coming," I said as I got up and pushed my feet into my slippers.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," I repeated as I heard them knocking again. I opened the door to find Rin and Shippo standing outside my door.

"Good morning, Rin," I yawned and covered my mouth before continuing. "Shippo." I paused to rub my eyes. "What's going on so early in the morning?" I asked as I looked down at two very awake children.

"Sesshomaru-sama and Inuyasha are practicing fighting today in the dojo. Do you want to come and watch?" Shippo asked me.

_They are? I wonder if I should see him so soon? I want see him. _

"I don't know guys," I told them. "You guys go along, I may show up later."

"Ok," they both said before running down the hall. I stepped back into the room and closed the door to just stand there thinking of what to do now.

_I want to go back to bed._

I have no idea what time I went to bed last night. I never brought my watch with me through the well since they don't count time like that here and I keep thinking that I'll break it anyway. I walked back over to the big soft place that I wanted to be, and kicked my slippers off before crawling back into the bed. I pushed myself down into the softness below me as I remembered Sesshomaru walking me to my bedroom door after I kissed him. I blushed again as I remembered.

**His arms were falling away from my body before I kissed him. Slowly he pulled me towards him as he started to kiss me back. When we stopped he was the one who pulled away first. When I looked into his face, his eyes were closed for a long moment. When they opened, they were changing back to normal from something darker I thought. I had blushed and lowered my gaze to realize that my feet were not touching the ground. **

**I unwrapped my arms from around his neck and he lowered me to the floor, letting my body slid down his. We walked to my door and he told me good night. He called me by my name again before he walked down the hall. **

**After that, I was shifting between what I was doing to get ready for bed, remembering what I was doing outside in the hallway and what I had seen or read about what came after kissing. I nicely cut out any other guy they talked about or showed and placed Sesshomaru in their place. **

My face heated up again as I stopped my fantasy from going too far. I couldn't go much further last night either. For a seventeen year old I didn't know as much as other girls in the twentieth century, but I didn't care. I had friends just like me and we didn't pressure each other into anything more than a friendly fun date, holding hands or a quick little kiss.

I wish the girls were here, I could ask them what I should to do next.

I closed my eyes and I saw his eyes again after he kissed me and I thought about kissing him again as I fell asleep.

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_More knocking?_ I opened one eye to close it again quickly. The room was much brighter. There was that knocking again.

"Coming," I groaned as I sat up. _I just did this._ I stood and held on to the edge of the bed as I slipped my slippers back on. I walked to the door without hearing the knock again.

"Oh, Amaya. Good morning," I told the familiar looking lady standing in the hallway.

"Good morning, Kagome-chan," she said. "Breakfast will be served soon."

"Thanks for telling me," I said as I smiled back at her. She then bowed and left to quickly walk down the hall. I stepped back into my room to gather my towel for my bath as my sleepiness quickly wore off.

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They never credited Sesshomaru with being good at hand to hand combat simply because they had never seen him in hand to hand combat before.

Neither of the brothers were allowed to use poison or claws during this practice. Both males were topless and sweating as they circled each other. Inuyasha had picked up on some of the moves that Sesshomaru had used to push him into a wall that was half a room away a minute before. There was one that had him looking up from the floor as if Kagome's voice had reached him and he was suddenly being sueru.

Sesshomaru was mildly impressed at how well Inuyasha picked up and practiced those moves on him. It showed that he had to ability to learn quickly once he was willing to learn.

Sitting off to the side, that was questionable at being called safe, sat Miroku with Sango and Kouga. Shippo and Rin were holding their own cheering section next to Kouga who was thinking of asking permission to join in later that day.

There was a light rap on the door causing almost everyone turned to look to see who it was. Gentle older hands opened the door to reveal Amaya on the other side.

"Breakfast?" Sesshomaru asked without looking at her.

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama," she answered him before bowing and slowly closing the door. Sesshomaru straightened his back some more before bowing ever so slightly at his brother. Inuyasha, who was still caught up in plotting a way to leave his brother sprawled on his back, blinked at his movement as the words said early made it into his brain. He bowed in return and walked over the basins holding the cold water.

He almost felt disappointment at the break, but then he reminded himself that it was just that, a break. They will be at it again after breakfast. He dunked a towel into the water and rung it out before wiping it down his face and over his chest.

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"Aren't you going to wash up before breakfast?" I asked Sesshomaru as he started to leave the dojo. He stood on the steps that lead out of the Dojo and looked at me for a moment.

"Yes," he said and then walked out.

"What was that?" I asked as I turned around to where the others were sitting. Rin and Shippo were already missing. They must have run out while I was wiping down. Sango and Kouga were half way to the door which left Miroku looking at me. He shrugged his shoulders before standing.

"Maybe he wanted a full bath," he suggested as he was walking towards me.

"Why? He'll just dirty again after breakfast," I told him as I turned back to the basin.

"I guess that's not how he sees it," he told me as he got closer. I continued to wipe the sweat away from my body with the refreshing cold, damp cloth. I dunked my hands into the water to pull my fingers through my hair to make my hair look a bit more decent for the meal. I personally didn't mind how my hair looked, but if Sesshomaru was going to take a bath, I knew he was going to give me looks about my hair until the meal was over or until I fixed it. _I'll spear myself his icily stares and do it now._

I felt Miroku's hand as it moved lightly through my hair causing me to turn to look at him.

"You could just ask to comb my hair. I would let you do it," I told him as I reached out a hand for him. Miroku placed his hand on mine to stop me from going any further.

"I'm not going to let you start," he said. "We said we won't do anything until tonight."

"No. I said that we didn't have time to have sex last night because I had to be here on time to practice with Sesshomaru," I told him as my other hand moved around his waist.

"What about tonight?" he asked me as he pressed his hand against my damp chest.

"It's too far way to worry about now," I whispered to him as I pulled him closer. His arms stopped pushing against me and he let me kiss him.

"Breakfast," Miroku said softly when we pulled back to breathe.

"Yes," I answered. "Something else I can't be late for." I might have surprised Miroku when let go of him without putting up a fight, but I didn't need to. I was going to see him for the rest of the day and then there was tonight to make up for last night, unless Sesshomaru decided to have practice again tomorrow.

I turned back to the cold water that was almost too cold now that I had cooled down, but I touched a wet cloth to my neck anyway to get the last spot that I had missed.

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Kouga held Sango's hand as they walked to the dining room after she got angry at him for asking another question about where Kagome came from.

"If you want to know so much, why don't you ask her yourself?" Sango asked him as they walked on.

"I don't think that it would be safe for me to be alone with her," Kouga answered. Sango turned to look at him as she stopped walking. She crossed her arms and looked at him. She hasn't had to use that pose in a while. Not since Miroku had stopped his wondering hands around her when she promised herself the man next to her, but she still remembered how it was done.

"I wouldn't do anything with her," Kouga said as his watched his mate-to-be, look even more so.

"So what did you mean when you said that it wouldn't be safe to be with her alone?" she asked Kouga.

"Well," he started. "Someone might not like the idea even if they knew that nothing was going on," Kouga said.

"Hump," came from between Sango's lips before she started walking again. "Why would I feel jealous of you talking with Kagome if I sent you to her?" she asked as he caught back up with her.

_Well, I wasn't really thinking about you._ Kouga said to himself. He reached out and held her hand in his. He lifted her hand and brushed them under his lips before saying. "Thank you and I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Sango asked around the small smile on her face.

"Oh, everything," he answered as he smiled back at her.

They were nearing their destination when they heard a call.

"Sango, Kouga," came from the stairway. They looked up to see Kagome as she came down the stairs. The couple waited for her to reach them before they all went inside.


	34. Chapter 34

Once again ...*clearing my throat*... I own nothing but my own 'sick little' ideas. I could not come up with something like a 15 year old girl going down a well and ending up 500 years in the past and actually finding demons and spells to be part of everyday life. She was able to leave and go back to her own time but stuck around to cause more issues.

Now that I have made my future lawyers happy, on with the story. :)

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

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Chapter 34

_I slept through this?_ I asked myself as I sat on the side looking on. I was seated between Sango and Rin when I first sat down, but for some reason, Sango changed seats with Kouga. After each confrontation between the brothers, Kouga would ask me a question, which I would try and answer before they launched at each other again.

As impressed as I could be by Inuyasha's form and marked improvement, that even I noted, Sesshomaru was the star by far. I didn't have a clue of what was being done or taught, but my attention was only diverted by the questions coming from Kouga.

By the time it was over I had told Kouga everything but my mother's age, what my blood type was, and who invented karaoke. At one moment I thought that I would be given a break from his questions when he asked to practice with the brothers, but Inuyasha said that he had Sesshomaru where he wanted him, and that he would have to wait for another time.

_Who did Kouga want to practice with?_ If he wanted to go against Sesshomaru, then he might be biting off more than he could chew, unless he wanted to learn something the hard way. If he meant Inuyasha, then it might have just been a way for him to fight with him like before.

"Is it lunch time already?" Sango asked as we heard a knock at the door. Amaya stepped inside and waited for one of her two lords to speak to her. My eyes were pulled back to them when I saw Sesshomaru spun Inuyasha around and with a movement of his left leg caused him to go crashing into the floor.

My heart did a small jump at the sound and vibration I felt from him hitting the mat. Sesshomaru held him pinned down for a few moments before standing and extending his hand to help him up. For a moment I expected Inuyasha not to take his hand, but he did and they stood chest to chest looking into each other's eyes before stepping back and bowing to each other. Sesshomaru then turned to Amaya.

"Lunch?" he asked her.

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama," she answer him. "It will be ready in an hour's time."

I watched as everyone around me got up and left. Most followed Sesshomaru out of the room, but Inuyasha and Miroku stayed back and talked while I decided what to do. I soon decided and started to walk over to Inuyasha to talk, since I hadn't really gotten a chance to talk with him since we got there. I really wanted to know how he was doing with being here.

"Hi guys," I said as I got closer.

"Hello Kagome," Miroku answered back, while Inuyasha grunted something while wiping a wet cloth around his neck and under his beads. _I guess I should deal with that now._ I told myself. I had already thought about it, and with me liking someone now too, it was just time.

"Inuyasha," I said as I got closer to him.

"Yes, Kagome," he answered me as he turned in my direction.

"Let me help you with that," I told him as I reached out my hands out to him. Instead of standing there, he backed away from me before looking over at Miroku.

"I don't need your help cleaning up," he said. "I'm going for a bath now anyway," he said as he left the room leaving me there with Miroku.

"What was that? I just wanted to help," I told Miroku when I looked back at him. "But I do need to talk to him," I continued. "Can you tell Inuyasha that I need to talk to him about something after lunch?" I asked Miroku.

"Sure Kagome," he answered me. "Where do you want him to meet you?" Miroku then asked me. I thought about it for a moment. _I don't think he would want to be seen with me from how he just acted, as childish as he was being about it, but I didn't want Sesshomaru to see the two of us together and think more of it then there was to think about._ I glanced at Miroku to find him looking back at me.

"I'm thinking," I told him because I thought he was getting impatient with me even if he wasn't showing it. _Where would no one be after lunch?_ I asked myself. "Tell him to meet me in the dining room after everyone has left." I told Miroku. I thought that was a good idea and smiled as I started to walk to the door. "Thanks Miroku," I called back at him as I left to find the book I left in library last night.

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"You didn't have to leave like that," Miroku said when he walked into our room. "I think she was just trying to be nice," he said after a moment. I kicked my legs out of the hakama and proceeded to unravel my fundoshi as I walked into the other room to start my bath.

"Inuyasha," I heard him call after me.

"I didn't feel like letting her touch me with you there," I said after I heard him enter behind me. I waded into the sunken tub and sunk down under the water. I turned around and looked up to see a distorted view of Miroku as he looked down at me in the water. I slowly stood up bring the water back down to waist level. I wiped the water from my face as I looked at him.

"I'm sorry," I finally told him. "I'll apologize to her later," I told him as I reached for the soap and rubbed it across my chest. _That's if she gives me a chance to._ I said to myself.

"Good," he said as he started to pull his robes thigh high before sitting on the edge of the bath. "Let me do your back," he told me as he held his hand out for the soap. I moved closer to him as I watched his bare legs swing in the water before I placed what he wanted in his hand. As I turned my back to him I caught my hair, pulling it off of my back and holding it over my shoulder and against the right side of my chest.

"She wants to speak to you too it seems," he started again. "She wants you to meet with her after lunch in the dining room after everyone has left," Miroku finished.

"Did she tell you what she wanted to talk to me about?" I asked him as his hands pressed into my back as he moved them in circles.

"No. She just said that she needed to talk to you. I think that is what she wanted to tell you just now," he ended. His hands started to move lower down on my back with them still going in circles. I enjoyed the feel of my muscles relaxing under this fingers.

"I will enjoy washing your hair tonight," he said as his hands started to come back up.

"Is my black hair better then my silver hair?" I asked him as I remembered how he played with it the last time I changed.

"No, it's not better," he said. "They seem different, but when I close my eyes I can't tell them apart," he ended. His hands moved up to my neck and down to my shoulders as they traveled on soap and bubbles across my skin. I closed my eyes slightly as I enjoyed the feeling.

"You know," he said breaking the silence. "Tonight will be the first time that Kouga will see your human self right?" Miroku asked me.

"Yeah, I know. I've prepared myself for some new jokes from him, but I'm not so worried about tonight," I said as I came out of my comfortable haze. I had manged to keep this from him while he stayed with us all those months ago when he came to get Kagome but ended up taking Sango instead, but now I can't couldn't hide it anymore.

"How come?" he asked me. It took a moment for me to remember what I just told him.

"Sesshomaru," I answered.

"Sesshomaru?" he asked. "A my-big-brother-will-protect-me thing?" he questioned.

"Sort of," I stated. "Not so much to protect," I started. "But more like forced respect," I said as I turned around to look at him. I smiled up into his face and took the soap back to finish cleaning up. He stayed quiet and just looked at me as I took my bath.

"My-big-brother-will-protect-me thing?" I asked him as I started to walk out of the tub. It finally sunk in what he had said before.

"Ya," he answered. "I thought that up when I saw how the two of you were getting along back at the hut last month, and he did kinda protect you from you Kouga when he was started to give you a hard time the first day. He also seems to be acting like your brother now. He even wanted you to start acting the part while you were here," he finished as we walked back into the bedroom behind of me.

He once again fell silent while I got dressed. I would look at him feeling odd that he wasn't helping me get dressed. I didn't need his help, but he has helped since we got here yesterday. The curved beads once again tried to snag the silk as I put on another not-so-new outfit. Moving it out of the way without lifting it too high was something I had learned to do over the years that I didn't think that much of it too often. I choose to wear the purple and green outfit today when I remembered everyone saying that my silver hair looked best against dark colors.

I glanced at Miroku and his eyes looked like he was far away as he looked at me. There wasn't a smirk on his face to say that he was thinking if ways to have fun with me later and it wasn't such a grave look that I was overly worried, but I was still concerned.

"Miroku?" I called to him as I walked over tying my obi in place. As I stood before him I reached out a hand and held his face before coming closer. I kissed him and then looked into his eyes.

"Is there something wrong?" I asked then waited for his answer. Miroku reached a hand out to touch my hair. I watched him as he flipped it and slid it between two fingers before his hand moved over to the beads. He touched them lightly at first, and then he gripped them without pulling on my neck before letting them go. I looked back up into his eyes and he looked at me.

"I never questioned them before," he said quietly. "But I want you to ask her to take them off." I looked at him completely surprised by what he said.

"You haven't asked her lately have you?" he asked me when I said nothing.

"No, I haven't asked in over a year," I told him. "Why are you asking?" I questioned him.

"Like I said, I don't know why you started to wear them, I just know that I don't know why you're still wearing them. Do you have to wear them for something else other than her commands to osuwari?" Now I could see some pain in his eyes.

"Where is this coming from?" I asked him before kissing him lightly again. "She hasn't sueru me in weeks."

"It was always there in bits and the bits started to add up," he said as he reached for the beads again. "I wish I could take them off of you myself," he said before he kissed me. He pulled us closer together and I didn't stop him. It wasn't a kiss to lead to more than just kissing, it was a kiss to kiss someone and be kissed I return. I rather liked it, and I liked it even more when he leaned more into me. He may not have expected it to lead to anything but I was close to wanting to get undressed again. I pulled away and looked into his shimmering plum colored eyes.

"I will ask her to take off the beads," I told him.

"Thank you Inuyasha," he smiled back at me. I reached for his hand as I smiled back at him. I stood there holding him for a while as I watched him become more like he was before.

"Ready for lunch?" I asked him.

"Yes, I'm ready," he answered.

We were able to keep holding hands until we reached the dining room. When we stepped inside we saw why. We were the last to arrive.

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There were a host of talk topics floating around the room. Everyone seemed to have talked with everyone else during the meal. Plans for the afternoon were openly discussed as well as the rehashing of the displayed moves from Dojo. Kouga tried to and succeeded at getting a match with Inuyasha in before he left the day after tomorrow. He was suppose to leave tomorrow, but he said that he would delay it for this chance to fight with Inuyasha.

Rin was reminded that her tutor would be seeing her this afternoon and she invited Shippo along. Sango received permission from Sesshomaru to use the Dojo that afternoon so she could get some of her own practice time in. At this both Kouga and Miroku showed interest in her afternoon plans.

Kagome was asked if she wanted to watch when even Inuyasha said that he wanted to see the wolf under Sango's fist. It was said with mirth but few who didn't know the group would find it hard to believe that the lady blushing could indeed knock the yokai wolf on his butt.

Kagome declined thinking it wouldn't be that much fun, besides she was set to meet Inuyasha after the meal to get something over with that she was late in doing. Among all the talk that passed over the table, Sesshomaru never directly talked to Kagome or her to him, and this seemed to have passed unnoticed by the others sitting at the table. Kagome in her own way realized that he didn't speak to her and she was just relieved that he didn't without caring why. As the meal moved on her guilt, that somehow had been pushed to a back burner, was now asking for Kagome's attention again. Moms always knew how to make their kids feel guilty about something if they raised them right.

Kagome had agreed to do something before she came back, but then she was seemingly side tracked with what she was starting to feel for Sesshomaru. Now that she was thinking about it again, the thing growing between them just made her feel even guiltier about it. She couldn't face him until she had fixed it.

Sesshomaru churned on the inside as looked at Kagome.

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_What was wrong?_ _She wasn't her normal self._ I take that back. She was her normal self with everyone but me. She had barely spared me a glance while she constantly gazed at my brother.

_Was she thinking that she should not have kissed me last night? Was she hoping to win my brother back?_ I felt my mood get darker from the light one I woke up with this morning. She was absent from this morning's practice and when she did show up for breakfast she looked away from me even though I made sure to be dressed well for the meal so she wouldn't be uncomfortable when looking at me. Then in the Dojo I couldn't tell who held her interest more, me or Inuyasha. That may have caused me to hit him a bit harder than I did in the morning session but he seemed to not have held it against me.

_Now this._ I looked over at her and saw her sipping the last of her drink. Today we had a berry infused tea that I had at this time of the year. I saw as she realized that I was looking at her. Her heart beat picked up and she turned completely from me to talk to Rin about her upcoming lesson. _That's it!_ I took the last sip from my own cup before standing.

"If anyone needs me I'll be in the library," I said as my gaze moved over the table. I bowed and then turned to leave the room. _If she wanted to speak with me, she knew where to find me. I will not go mad over a ningen female. _

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I stayed behind as everyone else got up and left. I sat there sipping some more of the berry tea that I poured for myself. I liked it. I think they used kousa berries to make the tea, but I wasn't sure. I only tasted it once when I was younger and it was on a dare. Once you got past the skin it wasn't so bad.

I was about to pure myself another cup when I realize I couldn't drink anymore. I stood up and started to pace around the room. I was looking out the window when I heard the door open. I turned around to see Inuyasha looking in. I turned and smiled at him. He came inside and walked across the room.

"Kagome," he said.

"Inuyasha," I started. "I'm sorry." _There, I said it._

"Sorry?" he asked me with a questioning look.

"Yes, I'm sorry. I should have done this before now." I reached my hands out to him and this time he didn't move away. My fingers picked up the beads that I hadn't touched since they were placed over his head three years ago, and I lifted them up and over his head letting his hair slid its way out on its own.

"Why?" he asked after a moment. "Why now?" he asked again to clarify his question.

"I should have done it since I got back," I told him feeling disappointed with myself. "I told mama that you had fallen in love with someone else and how sure you seemed. She asked me how I took it and if I sueru you when you told me. I told her that I was sad and that you were kinda nice about it when you told me. I also told her that I was insulted that she would think that I would osuwari you over that. Then she went into all the times she had seen me osuwari you and said that it looked like anything would set me off to do that to you. I felt bad when I remembered. I remember thinking I had good reasons for doing it at the time, but then I didn't think that they were so good now. I then thought of all the other times that she hadn't seen me osuwari you and I was surprised that you were even willing to still be my friend." I stopped and wiped away tears that were running down my face. I knew I was crying, but it wasn't until I couldn't really see him anymore and I had finished what I had to say to him did I stop talking to take care of the tears that now covered my face.

I felt him as he slowly started to hug me before I saw him doing it. I cried out loud as I flung myself onto his chest before hugging him in return.

"Thank you for still being my friend Inuyasha," I cried into his shoulder. As he started to firmly hug me back I felt like I had to say it again. "I'm sorry for almost every time I used the beads to osuwari you in the past."

"Hay! What times aren't you sorry for?" he asked me after a moment. I smiled through my tears as he pulled me back to look into my face.

"Oh, the time I saved your life back when Sesshomaru was still trying to kill you, and the first time you changed into a full demon and started attacking innocent people," I told him.

"Fine," he said after a moment. I then squeaked in surprise as he pulled me back into another hug. I closed my eyes and held on to him knowing that this won't happen again, at least not for a while anyway. He doesn't like to show this part of himself much.

"Thank you for doing this for me Kagome," he said quietly next to my ear.

"You're welcomed," I told him back.

"And I'm sorry for running away earlier," he added. "You just surprised me." I smiled at this knowing he also hated to apologize. He thought that it was weak to admit to being wrong, when it actually proved the opposite.

"It's alright," I told him.

I broke the hug when he started to get fidgety. "Well," I started as I stepped back to give him some air. "You were going to see Kouga and Sango practice," I reminded him. At that a grin broke out on his face.

"Are you coming?" he asked me.

"Maybe later, I have some studying I want to get done first," I told him.

"You brought your school work?" he asked as we started walking to the door.

"Of course I did. I'm already behind as it is," I told him. "I haven't even looked at my English text book since I got back. I just know that I won't be able to scrape by this time." The look of being trapped that I saw on his face made me stop from going on. He didn't know about English and he didn't need to care.

"Go on," I said as I waved him away. "See ya at dinner if I don't make it to the Dojo." He was already down the hall by the time I finished speaking but I knew he heard me.

I breathed deeply with my eyes closed. The weight that I had all through lunch was now gone. Now I can look at Sesshomaru guilt free.

I turned the other way and walked towards the library, passed it and headed up the stairs to my room.


	35. Chapter 35

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Chapter 35

I had finally started to make some good progress with my papers and responses to other territories, when I heard a knock on the door. Not caring who it was I said "Enter". As I heard the door close it wasn't Amaya's smell that caused me to pause momentarily in the rolling of a scroll.

_How should I deal with her? Give her my full attention or continue with my work until she speaks to me?_ I decided to continue working. I grabbed a random scroll and opened it not remembering what I was going to do before she came in.

I looked at it blankly while I tried to remember what I was suppose to be doing when I heard her move closer. The air shifted next to me with her scent as she moved to my side. As the idea to ask her a question came to mind I heard a 'thud' and turned to see that she just deposited some 'books' onto the desk before sitting down in front of them. She now had my full attention.

I looked to her face to find a reason for her current behavior. A noticeable pulse passed through my chest as my eyes found hers looking back at me. I don't believe that I have seen that look on her face since she tried to get me into their hut two fortnights ago. Once again that feeling moved over my body causing me to look from her smiling face back to her 'books'. I just looked at them without asking what they were. Some were quite large while others seemed extremely thin in comparison.

"They are my study books for school," she told me after a moment. I chanced a look back at her now that the feeling had passed. Her face had also changed. I now saw hope there. Her smile wasn't completely gone and as she poked out her tongue to lick her lips, I waited to hear her speak again. _I was actually waiting to hear her speak._ There is something I wouldn't have believed of myself two moons ago.

"May I stay here and study with you Sesshomaru-sama?" she asked me. I found myself being happier than I expected at hearing this. She was now seeking my company. A stab from my dark mood begged me to ask a question.

"You wish for my company and not that of my brother?" I asked her. It sounded petty and harsh, but I will not go any further with her if she is holding on to anything for Inuyasha. Her eyebrows came together and her head almost moved in a tilt until she lowered her face. _Was I right? _

"What makes you think that I would rather be with Inuyasha and not with you?" she asked me.

"Lunch," I answered her.

"Lunch?" she questioned.

"You constantly gazed at him while you avoided looking at me. If your interests have shifted miko, I wish you to say so now."

"My … interests have not shifted Sesshomaru-sama," she said as she raised her eyes to mine again. Once again her eyes held nothing for me to believe that she wasn't being honest, even if the faint smell of my brother coming off her made me want to question them.

"Clarify," I told her. Once again her head bowed.

"I was ashamed of something and I could not face you," she said after a moment.

"Did you wrong someone? Inuyasha?" I inquired of her. She just bobbed her head causing more of her hair to fall off of her shoulders. _Had she fixed what she had done?_

"What did you have to do to right this wrong?" I asked her.

"I had to remove a spell," she answered. _This could be the reason for his smell. _I wanted to believe this and she gave me no reasons not to. I turned back to my scrolls.

"You may stay and study," I told her as I once again reached for a scroll that I had no reason to read.

"Thank you Sesshomaru-sama," she said before shifting in her own seat to face her 'books' again. Soon I heard her opening them and moving through their 'pages'.

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The sun's rays moved across the room as we continued in our comfortable silence. Tea was brought twice while we sat there going about our respected bits of work. I accepted invitations, planed meetings and agreed to one request for my services that continued to give me the right to keep the name assassin. I know that these days were coming to an end. Doing the dirty work for others so that my lands would be safe has left very few enemies in this world.

I looked at Kagome to see how she was now handling her studies. Throughout the afternoon I had seen her go from intent, to aggravated, to board back to intent again, that at moments passed for irritated. As my eyes moved over her features now all I saw was sleep. When I heard her breathing slowly, I thought that she had found something less taxing to read over or memorize. I must have succeeded in tuning her out, so I could concentrate on what was before me, and missed the sound of her fingers not turning the pages.

I fully turned in my seat and looked at her as the darkness slowly filled the room. Her hair faded into shadows, and I watched as it slowly spread from the back of her face forward. When it encroached on her lips, I turned to light a candle that was next to the table with a flick of my wrist.

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"Did it ever hurt?" I asked Inuyasha as I watched him standing on the balcony looking at the setting sun.

"It did seem to hurt a lot when I was younger, but as each year passed it just hurt less and less," he told me. "I just got use to it I guess, but I still feel the change when the sun sets," he finished.

We both now looked to the horizon as the last rays of sunlight disappeared. I reached out and placed my hand on his shoulder as I saw him flex his hands as his claws shrunk and disappeared into normal human fingers. He closed his eyes as his ears sank into his hair that shimmered from ghostly sliver to shiny black. His human ears poked out on the side of his head as he opened his mouth to breathe revealing a mouth that looked empty without his fangs.

Inuyasha reached out towards me and pulled my other arm around his waist. I stood behind him and held him to my thighs, my waist and my chest. I ran the fingers of the hand that was on his shoulder through his hair a few times before moving it off of his neck. I looked down at his skin and saw the pinkness below it that wasn't there before. I pressed my lips to it and tasted him. Soft kisses in between a few licks as he intertwined his fingers with mine.

"Ready for a bath?" he asked me. I was able to get an hour or so in of sparing against Sango and then Kouga before Inuyasha and I watched them go after each other. We left a little early to make sure that we weren't there when he changed. Having Kouga know about it, and letting him see him change were two different things.

"Sure," I said as I kissed him one last time. As we separated the cool night air chilled my bare chest.

"I have something for you," Inuyasha said as I stepped back inside. I looked at him as he pulled his hand from inside his clothes. At first the black beads didn't mean anything to me. Then I saw the other curved light gray ones. The thought that he had somehow gotten me a necklace to match his own was quickly burned as I looked up at his neck. His was gone. _How did I miss that? _These had to be the same beads. She had taken them off.

"Inuyasha," I breathed as I came closer. I reached out and touched them thinking, _What am I suppose to do with them?_ "What do you want me to do with them?" I asked as I took them from his hand remembering how warm they felt against his skin.

"I don't care what you do with them. I don't want them," he said as he turned around and started to strip. I looked at him as his hair brushed over more and more of his reviled skin.

"What would happen to me if I wore them?" I asked him as I looked back down at the beads that I still held in my hand.

"Why would you want to wear it?" he asked as he turned around to face me.

"I don't really," I answered him. "I was just wondering if anything would." As the words left my mouth I felt like I wanted to keep them close, for when we weren't together like this. I looked up from the beads and into his new darker eyes and reached for him. I hugged and kissed him and he held on to me for all of it.

"Thank you Inuyasha," I told him before I kissed him again.

"It's not much of gift, but you're welcomed," he said smiling at me.

"It's not for the beads, but for asking Kagome to take them off," I told me as I smiled over his misunderstanding.

"I didn't ask her," he told me. His arms were lightly resting on my hips as he looked into my face.

"You didn't ask her? She just took them off herself?" I queried him.

"Yes," he answered. "It seems that is what she wanted to talk to me about. She said that she was suppose to have taken them off since she came back a month ago," he finished.

"A month?" I asked him. "She forgot about it for a month?" I stared wide eyed at him as he left my embrace and started walking towards the bath.

"If you don't hurry you won't have time to wash my hair and enjoy it," Inuyasha said as he fully turned his back on me letting me watch his pink and creamy backside as he moved away. His hair only made it as far as the small of his back, leaving me with an unhidden view of something I wasn't sure he trying to show off, but then, he did know it was one of my weaknesses. I looked at the beads once more before I threw them over to where my robes laid and started to pull at my obi as I walked after him.

By the time I saw Inuyasha again he was standing in water that was just past his knees and touching the tips of his fingers as he leaning back against the inner wall of the tub looking at the doorway and myself. I was already naked and had a wicked thought moving through my head. I smiled as I stepped into the water and moved in his direction. My pulse quickened when I saw myself telling him what that thought was. He raised his hand out of the water as I came closer.

He pressed it against my belly and slid his hand higher up my chest the closer I got to him. I sucked on his lips before taking his mouth roughly without having to think about getting nicked by fangs. I held his face in my hands for a few moments as I slipped my tongue into his month before moving them down his body. My hands moved down his arms, over his strong back and down onto the curve of his back. I pulled his body against the length of mine and enjoyed the feel of heated skin on heated skin as we rubbed into each other.

I tasted blood before I remembered that he had bitten my lips. It was just a drop, but he tasted it too from the moan I heard from him. Even with him being human, he still held on to some of his demon traits. _Now would be a good time to tell him,_ I thought as I moved to his ear.

"Inuyasha," I managed to say before and unexpected moan passed my lips.

"Yes Miroku," he answered back a little slowly.

"I had a thought. Do you want to hear it?" I asked him as I started to lick the edge of his ear. Inuyasha's hand squeezed my penis again before he continued moving up and down the length of it again.

"What are you thinking pervert?" Inuyasha asked me. I could hear him smiling as he asked.

"It occurred to me that you might be aaabbble…" I grasped the edge of the tub and leaned my head unto Inuyasha's shoulder as a shudder moved through my body as his hand started to move faster.

"You call me perverted? AAahh…" I called out just as I ended my question. I pushed myself more into his hand as he added his mouth to the torture he was putting me through by nibbling on and around my shoulder and neck. My mind was only just able to convince me to pay him back in kind since I couldn't truly talk at the moment. I didn't have to go looking or feeling, as the case may be, for his manhood as it was rubbing quite stiffly against my leg.

I mimicked what he was doing to me and soon I saw him with his head bent back and gasping for air as his hand continued to move over me. We both rocked into each other's hands as our voices got louder and the sounds we made became more frequent. Among the sounds and syllables that fell from our lips we started to repeat each other's name.

My eyes snapped opened when I felt Inuyasha push his lips onto mine, I then closed them again as returned his kiss fully.

"Fuck me," fell from his lips as he ended the kiss. "Fuck me now so you can come in me when I come," he added around deep breaths. He then turned around and found a seat nearby to kneel on, pushing his ass towards me. I didn't need to be told twice.

"Yes," I said to this invitation as I started to push my pre-cum covered cock up his ass. I thought I went in too fast when he became still beneath me.

"Inuyasha," I called out hoping that I was wrong, but still concerned over my actions. He was tight around me and made little twitching movements that caused me to feel a little guilty for enjoying it, when I wasn't sure he was.

"Inuyasha," I said again before placing a kiss on his back. "Are you alright?" I asked him. His dark hair moved up and down with his head as he nodded silently. I moved my hands onto his back, fighting the idea to rock his body with mine and moved my hands in circles over his back and sides like I did for him before lunch. I felt him as he eased and his muscles relaxed under my hands.

"Move," I barely heard him breathe. I continued to rub his back enjoy the feeling of him starting to move around me. The instinctual need to start moving with him was starting to build again when I felt him grasp my hand that was now over at his hip.

"Move," he said louder with a whining under tone.

"Yes," I answered him as I gave over to the pull and rocked him with my pelvis a few times before pulling out and sinking back into him. I moaned before he did, but I knew before I moved my hand around to get a hold of his penis that he was going to come before me. He was so quite but his body trembled constantly. His manhood was so stiff and hot, that I barely touched it and it was jumping in the palm of my hand and dripping over my fingers. I grabbed him and had to hold myself back from coming as he clinched down on me.

I held on tightly to him to keep him from coming also. I wanted this to last a little longer. When his internal fist loosened around me, I counted to ten before I started moving again. I made long deep strokes that my hand matched in front of him. When I started to move faster he became very vocal, and I loved it. I leaned over his back and smelled his hair as his moans made my heart jump and penis twitch. _Faster, I have to go faster. Make him scream my name._

"Come, come with me Inuyasha," I moaned as the coiling got tighter in the pit of my belly.

"AH!" he gasped. "Fuck Yes!" he shouted. "Miiiroookuu," he moaned. _Almost there, almost there, almost there._

"AAaaahhhhhhh…." he screamed as he fucked into my hand and clamped onto me pulling me with him. I tensed and jerked as I came in him with my face pressed into his hair at the back of his neck.

"haa… haa…haa…" I licked my lips. "My Inuyasha," I said. "I love you," I told him. I didn't hear anything from him except his heavy breathing. I wrapped my arms around him as I pulled out and just held him that way while he rested. I didn't need him to tell me anything right now.

Once we had composed ourselves enough to move, Inuyasha moved off to release more water into the tub as I use the seat as a step to allow me to sit on the floor. When Inuyasha returned I pulled him back into between my legs. When the water was deep enough I had him dunk down into the water while I reached for something we both agreed to be shampoo. Once he surfaced and leaned back into place and I started to wash his hair.

"You were saying something before," Inuyasha said as he swayed with my hands as I moved them over his scalp.

"Saying something?" I half asked myself as I tried to remember.

"Yeah. Just before I started jerking you off. You said you had an idea about something," he continued. His eyes were closed and he kept leaning forward into my lap. I constantly pushed him back to get to the rest of his hair and to wash the front and sides of his scalp.

The image of a dark haired Inuyasha kneeling between my legs as he slowly pushed his way into me came to mind and stayed there.

"Miroku," Inuyasha called.

"Yes," I answered as it image faded away.

"Did we do what you had in mind?" he asked me. I looked at his face that displayed a grin showing that he was amused at something.

"Actually, no," I said as I leaned down and kissed his smirking lips.

"Later then?" he asked as he pulled away slightly from me. I saw his eyes now that were now as black as his hair but they looked bottomless as they shone like polished opals.

"Yes, later," I told him as I smiled back. "Ok, you can wash your hair out now," I told him as I gently pushed him further away. I needed to get going with my own bath.


	36. Chapter 36

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Chapter 36

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama," Amaya said before closing the door. I now turned to the Kagome's sleeping form as I walked back across the room.

_How am I going to do this?_ I asked myself. It was less than an hour until dinner now, and she was starting to look comfortable even if her face was pressing on the edge of one of her books. I took my seat next to her again and continued to think again of how to wake her. _Just wake her like you would wake Rin._ I told myself. _It's not that hard._ I reached out and held her shoulder.

"Kagome," I said and waited.

"Kagome," I said again as I squeezed her shoulder. She moved a little and mumbled something that meant nothing before falling back into sleep. I placed my hand on her shoulder once more and shook her a bit harder this time. I saved my breath for when she was awake.

"Sesshomaru," she said as she turned her head in her sleep._ Great!_ I thought. _I could just let her sleep._ I then thought. If I didn't know better, I would think that I was making an excuse to hold her again. Charmed as I was by the possibility of taking her to her room, I didn't have the right to make decisions for her. She wasn't Rin.

"Kagome," I said in a louder, firmer voice as I shook her again.

"Ha?" she asked as she screwed her eyes before opening them a little as she sat up. She rubbed the side of the face that the book had been pressing into as she looked at me.

"Sesshomaru-sama," she finally said. "What's going on?" she asked before covering her mouth to hide a yawn that was easily heard.

"It's dinner time," I told her as I stood and waited for her to understand. After a moment she did look like she was trying to stand but couldn't.

"Do you need help?" I asked before really thinking it through.

"A hand would be nice," she said. So I held out a hand to assist her. Her hand was small and warm and I continued to hold it after she was clearly standing on her own. I watched as my thumb moved over her fingers and I felt as she shivered. I eased my hold but I didn't drop her hand. I wanted for her to pull away, she didn't. I looked at her face and saw her as she came closer, licking her lips as she did.

"Do you want any dinner?" I asked her as she lowered her head to look at my chest.

"I can do something else?" she asked in a voice I hadn't heard her use before. I looked at her more closely as she lifted her hand from mine and pressed it against my chest. "I want something else," she said as she looked up at me. _I don't think she can see me, _I thought to myself as I saw her now half lidded eyes. I gripped her shoulders and held her from trying to move closer to my person.

"Kagome," I said with a sharp shake. I peered into her eyes which she soon blinked a number of times.

"Sesshomaru-sama," she said in a louder, stronger voice. She even tried to step back. I released her shoulders and moved to the door of the library and waited for her to catch up.

"Do you know what time it is?" I asked her as she walked towards the door.

"I can see its dark, did I miss dinner?" she inquired as she looked up at me.

"No, but it's almost time," I informed her.

"Thank you for waking me," she said before walking past me into the hall. She then stood there looking at me.

"Yes, Kagome," I said to her thinking she had something to else to say.

"Aren't you coming?" she asked. I heard the puzzlement in her question. I was planning on staying in the library until dinner, but in light of my wanted presence, I felt inclined to go with her rather than stay here alone.

As we walked towards her room, we saw the others as they went to the dining room. First, we met the one named Sango with Kouga. Sango looked worried as she glanced at Kagome while the wolf just smiled and steered his would-be mate down the stairs. Next we saw the young ones. Shippo was the one leading the duo as they walked down the hall. His height was noticeable as he pulled Rin's hand. They both stopped and looked at us as we walked by. Rin was then the one to pull Shippo along from the protests I heard after leaving them behind.

I was speared seeing my bother at this moment as she opened the door and walked in, leaving it open. I looked at her as she walked further into the room, then back to the opened door.

I choose to close the door from the inside, before I found myself sitting in the same seat I sat in when I was there before. She didn't look back to see if I had moved, or she just knew that I already had. I saw her bringing a jug of water back from the bath to pour into the washbasin on one of the side tables.

I watched her as she washed her face and brushed her hair. I again let myself gaze at the back of her neck as she combed her hair. I made my mind wander to other things while she did what she did. I heard her voice as she said my name back in library. _What kind of dream did she place me in?_ She never finished telling me about her time. _When would I be able to ask her again? _I heard some of the questions and answers that passed between her and the wolf earlier that day in the Dojo, but I saved most of my attention for Inuyasha.

"Sesshomaru-sama," I heard Kagome call to me. I looked up to find her standing next to the bed.

"Yes, Kagome," I answered her. She took a few steps forward while holding a hair brush in her clasped hands. She stood there for a few moments looking at me.

"I was wondering what kind of friendship we have," she asked me. I sat there looking at her thinking that this was the first time I saw her looking like she needed protection. I stood and walked towards her. My arms extended and she didn't move away. She looked into my face as I came closer to her without moving her eyes away from mine. She did hesitate as she attempted to hug me in return as I wrapped my arms around her small body. When she was sure of herself I felt her hold on me tighten and I wrapped my mokomoko around us both as she settled her cheek against my chest.

"A friendship that can more if you want it to be," I told her after drinking in her scent that was starting to affect my vision.

"You are leaving it up to me?" she asked after a few moments.

"Yes," I answered her. "You would have the most to lose if you chose to be my mate," I told her. I surprised her by my words I'm sure, but I also surprised myself. I hadn't thought that far. I had thought about protecting her, I thought about how I wanted to bed her, I thought about her seeming shifting affections and hated the jealousy that I felt, but I hadn't thought about mating with her. _Did I want to?_ I asked myself. I'm sure it was a question that she was asking herself also, but her hold on me remained strong and I continued to hold onto her also.

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"Why would he be going into Kagome's room?" Miroku asked me as we walked pass it._ I know what I saw, _I told myself as I gave the door another puzzling look.

"I don't why, I just know that I saw him," I told Miroku again.

"I think that you're nervous about being seen in your human form, and you saw something that wasn't really there," he said as he held my hand, I almost pulled away since we were outside of Kagome's room, but it felt nice, so I held his hand in return as we continued walking.

"But what if?" I asked him.

"What if what?" Miroku asked.

"What if they like each other?" I asked as I looked back down the hall at her door again.

"Then I wouldn't know who to be sorry for," he said as he smiled at me. I almost felt like telling him to take this seriously, but I lost what there was to be serious about. Sesshomaru wasn't one of my enemies anymore, and Kagome and I were no longer in any form of a couple, so why should I object?

"I don't know either," I said as I thought over his answer. "I guess it wouldn't be so bad," I told Miroku. "Damn!" I exclaimed as I stopped walking and looked down at my feet.

"What? What's wrong?" Miroku asked me with shock and puzzlement in his voice.

"I just figured out how this could be bad for me," I told him as I unwilling started to walk again.

"How?" he asked.

"If they get together, he will be on me to take care of her when she isn't here, and she will let the power go to her head. I can just see it," I said as I shook my head.

"I won't let that happen," he told me. "But first let's see if that is even a possibility. They may be down stairs waiting for us," he added.

"Ok," I said as we started down the steps, but I knew they wouldn't be there. Miroku walked in first and as I entered I saw their seats empty. I looked over at Miroku as he walked to his seat. I forgot about Kouga until I heard him trying to come up with something to say. His favorite greeting of 'mutt-face' wouldn't work tonight. It was quite entertaining to see him speechless for once.

"Good night Kouga," I told him with a smirk as I sat down before looking to Miroku again.

"What happened to Mutt-face?" Kouga finally asked as he continued to look at me. I looked at him as he waited for his question to be answered. Sango looked up at me and I moved my gaze back to Kouga. I wouldn't have minded is she told him, but she seemed set on not saying anything about other people's secrets.

"I'm just human," I told him. "It happens every month on this night."

"This night?" he questioned.

"The first night of the lunar month moron," I almost shouted back at him. "Don't you know what day it is?" I asked him.

"I'm sorry, but this night doesn't hold any major importance to me like it does for others," he spat back at me.

We looked at each other with non-verbal dares being shot back at each other to see who would bite first. Instead the mode faded as we relaxed back into our seats.

"So how long will you be like this?" he asked after a moment.

"Just tonight until the sun rises," I told him in an off handed manner. I didn't want to stress my words, to point out how long I would be in this weak form.

"And your completely human?" he asked.

"Completely," I confirmed. "On the upside I don't smell your sorry ass anymore," I told him with a grin.

"What are they doing?" I questioned the room after my comment kept him quite for a few moments. I turned and looked at the door, hoping they would walk in now.

"Who are you talking about Inuyasha?" Sango asked as she pulled her attention away from Kouga. I think I heard her say something about Sesshomaru. _Was she talking to me or to Kouga when she said that?_ I hate not being able to hear on these nights.

"Yeah, Sesshomaru and Kagome," I told her hoping I had heard that much right.

"They went to her room. They should be down soon," she said before taking a sip from some of the tea that was already at the table. I knew I saw them. I reached over and poured my own cup of tea.

"You saw them going to her room?" Miroku asked Sango. She just shook her head as she swallowed what she had in her mouth.

"We saw them too," Rin said before Shippo backed her up.

"We saw them up on the second floor when we were coming for dinner, but they were going the other way," he added.

"Ah ha," Rin agreed.

"See I told you," I aimed at Miroku. "At least I got the beads off before this happened," I moaned to myself.

"Your beads are gone?" Sango asked with surprise as she looked over at me with sharp eyes. "They're really gone," she convinced herself.

"Will they get mated? Can she even stay in this time?" Sango asked Miroku. I half expected her to maybe ask me those questions since he was my brother, but I wouldn't have been able to give her an answer if she did. Until he allowed Rin to follow him around, humans weren't much higher than bugs to him.

"If they get mated, the question will be how?" Kouga butted in with. I guess I was off topic now for him.

"What do you mean how?" I asked since I only knew of one way.

"You may not look like mutt-face anymore, but you didn't get any smarter did you," he commented as he realized that he was still capable of insulting me. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Just tell me what you mean before they show up," I told him not hiding the impatience.

"He doesn't know because I never told him," I heard from behind of me.

"Sesshomaru-sama," Rin said to the voice that came from behind of me._ Damn!_ I sat further back into my chair. Kagome was walking in front of Sesshomaru as they walked around the table and towards their seats.

"We will speak of this after Rin and Shippo and have left," he stated as he looked around the room. "Amaya," he called, which started the meal for the evening, and ended all current conversations at the table.


	37. Chapter 37

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

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Chapter 37

The little ones looked lost as they eat their meal without fuss as their eyes traveled around the table looking at everyone. Everyone else looked lost in thought as they now processed the new information they received.

Miroku thought that he hadn't seen this coming, but he now saw the signs that were there before. _It couldn't have start any further back than when Sesshomaru was injured, but did it start that day?_

Sango was even more mystified at the turn of events that started earlier that evening when she saw them on the stairs together.

Inuyasha was just sinking further into his gloomy mood brought about by his self-predicted solemn future as Kagome's new brother. _Niichan?_ He thought. _I would be her older brother._ His mood lightened and he placed more of his interest into eating his meal. He drew a few looks for his changed mood, but he just grinned and continued to eat.

Kouga wasn't that surprised since he knew something was going on when he arrived yesterday, but he was taken back at how fast they had gotten to this point. _This point?_ Did they really know what point they were at yet? He wanted to say that he knew, but he was a bit more interested in how they came to like each other. What he once saw in Kagome may not have been what had gotten Sesshomaru-sama's attention.

Kagome didn't have the metal space to think about the others. The word mate floated around her head, occasionally bunching off some of those inner walls. _I'm just seventeen I can't have a husband yet. I have to finish high school. I want to go to college, but what good would that do me here? _She chewed on a piece of pork as a notion hit her. _How would all the things in those books help me back here? Could I change history? Could I change my future time? Could I stay here and do what I tried not to, by keeping my secret in the first place? _Other questions popped up into her head as she filed the first set away for later.

For all the questions she asked herself, one that she failed to bring up was, was she actually going to marry Sesshomaru? All her questions were about how she would deal with living here. How young she was to be getting married. How she would affect her own time line in the future. Did she realize that she already answered a question that she hadn't been asked?

Sesshomaru ate without seeing and swallowed without tasting his dinner. He was sure it was cooked just right, but his earlier actions and words kept him from noticing. _What in all of creation possessed me to tell her that I wanted to be her mate? _He asked himself for the fourth time since he sat down. Now it didn't sound so foreign to him anymore. He knew the steps, he knew what he was starting, but his thoughts had never gone that far. _This is how it was suppose to end. Wasn't it?_ Well it's one of the ways it could end. He let his eyes move across the table. He knew that they believed that Kagome and himself were going to be mated, but that wasn't a stage that both of them had agreed to yet. The shock of his early statement was now melting into the question of what would happen if she said yes.

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My mind shifted to the dreams that have started to keep me company at night. After seeing her in my bath, any part of her anatomy that I had misjudged was promptly corrected. Her voice and body kept my mind company at night and I've wanted to hold the real thing in my arms when it came time to sleep.

Since she has come here, night time didn't have to be present for me to have those feelings for her. I hadn't forgotten her smile, but seeing it again was like I had indeed forgotten and the brightness of it seemed as new as a day I hadn't seen yet.

My eyes rested on her as she sat by my side. She ate slowly and her face was possessed with concentration as her eyes looked for the answers. Answers I wish I already knew.

Food became a task that I didn't want to continue and I placed my chopsticks over the rice bowl. I settled on drinking tea for the rest of the meal until Rin and Shippo left the room.

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As the door closed behind my back, letting us know that they were out of ear shot, Sesshomaru called for Amaya again. We then had to wait as the table was cleaned and cleared before our earlier conversation would be allowed to continue.

My mood was better now. I had perked up at the idea that I would be Kagome's older brother, but near the end of the meal I started to believe that it may not save me from all of her demands, but it could make my life not as bad as I was beginning to believe.

As the door closed behind the last servant, I looked at Sesshomaru and waited some more. Instead of speaking he sipped his damned tea. I looked at Kouga just to have him look back at me with that cocky smile on his face.

"Would someone just tell me what you mean by more than one way to mate?" I asked the room in a voice that I was sure was too loud.

Sesshomaru placed his cup back onto the table and leveled a gaze at me with his cold stare that I hadn't really seen since before his injury. I swallowed and tried to slow the erratic beating of my weaker heart.

"Do not forget your place or who I am Inuyasha," he said in an even tone chipped with danger.

"Yes Sesshomaru," I said as I saw him turning on me for a spit second. I had thought of calling him 'oniisan' or 'aniki' but I had never called him either before. The one bell of danger that was ringing in my head died down and then disappeared as I saw his expression change. It returned to what I had gotten use to over the past few days.

"I will answer your question," he stated after a moment. "There are two ways in which a ningen may mate with a demon. The ningen may simply declare to be with the demon in front of a gathering that they choose to witness this, before they receive their mate's mark in private. Different demons mark their mates differently, so I can't say where they will be marked. As inu-demons, we leave our mark on the back of our mate's neck," he paused for another sip. "Most demons these days don't bother with the witnesses and just mark there mate, but that does not happen in this house."

He pinned me with a look that he seemed to share with Miroku. Now I was nervous again. He closed his eyes as he continued. "The other way of mating with a human is to have a turning ceremony after the declaration, but before the marking. For this a healer, a demon with the gift and exchanging of blood is needed."

"Hah?" I asked slightly confused. "What are they turning into?"

"Each other," he simply answered.

"Each other?" I questioned again.

"During the turning, the ningen becomes the same kind of demon as their mate and their mate's life span is shorted by a small degree," Sesshomaru stated.

"Does that work for half demons?" I inquired, not looking at anyone else.

"It might, but I'm not sure," he said. "You will have to ask Masami-sama to know more."

"Does she still live in the same house in the village?" I asked him.

"She does," he informed me.

I remember her. She is a mix of two demons and was now so old she made herself look more human then demon. That was unless you got her mad. Then you would see each half of her warring to break free of her current shape to punish you for your actions against her, but that was a rare occasion for two reasons. Firstly she had learned to keep her more violent emotions under control. I'm sure that she was asked to show Sesshomaru how to keep his emotions under control when he was growing up and did too good a job. Secondly, no one dared to offend her to find out how tight her control was.

"Sesshomaru-sama, have you and Kagome decided to be mated?" That bold question came from Kouga. He must be feeling lucky today.

"That question has not been asked," Sesshomaru told him. I looked at Kouga and he accepted it like it was the answer he expected.

"So that's it?" I asked.

"That is it," Sesshomaru confirmed.

"Then I'm going for a walk then," I said as I stood.

"Wait," Kagome said as she got to her feet. "I have to go home. Tomorrow."

"Why are you just saying this?" I asked her.

"I just forgot okay," she said in a louder tone. "I need someone to go with me to the well since it's so far away." She was still looking at me.

"Fine…" I started

"I'll take you," came from Sesshomaru.

"Hah?" I asked.

"I will take her. I'm faster," he stated. He wasn't giving me room to argue. _Should I thank him?_

"Thanks?" came out from between my lips. He raised an eyebrow then stood. He bowed as expected then left the room.

**# ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ #**

**Oniisan **- older brother**; **elder brother**;**

**Aniki **- one's senior**; **elder brother**;**


	38. Chapter 38

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own sick ideas.

I'm still waiting for any comments that you may have on my story. Good, bad, whatever.

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Chapter 38

_Sesshomaru is going to take me to the well? Wait!_ I looked up but he was already gone. I looked to my friends. They stared at me as if I didn't look like myself. I placed a hand on my head and smoothed down my hair to make sure nothing was sticking up.

"I think that I'm just going to go ask Sesshomaru-sama about what time we will be leaving tomorrow. I'm not sure how long I will be gone, maybe another week," I said as I stood up. My eyes darted between my friends and the door that would let me follow Sesshomaru. They had questions to ask me and I had far less answers than I was comfortable with. "So have a good night guys. I'll catch you in the morning." I tried to make a break for the door, but someone stopped me. I looked back at my hand that I couldn't move to see who was holding it. My eyes meet Sango's face.

"You and Sesshomaru are to be … mated?" she asked as she released my arm. My mouth did an odd quirky movement as I wished that I had heard him ask me that question.

"No," I answered her as I walked backwards towards the door. "He didn't ask me." _Why was my chest hurting? I shouldn't be crying. I shouldn't be. _"I'll see you guys tomorrow ok?" I ran from the room before they could see me crying and I ran past the library and up the stairs to my room.

I looked at my bed mostly hidden in the darkness of the room as I sank to the floor with my back against the door. My shoulders didn't heave. My throat wasn't clogged with sobs but my cheeks still got wet as my eyes leaked tears. _Why was I crying? Why did I feel like I was rejected?_ I wiped the tears from my face and eyes as I took deep breaths in. _He told me it was up to me. He said it was my choice. I wasn't being passed over again. _The ache in my chest went away, and I didn't feel like I was going to break as I took another breath. _He was waiting for me. Darn! _I got up and yanked the door open to run back into the lit hallway and down the stairs to the library.

I stood outside the room and wiped my face again before touching the door. I reached to open it, but I curled my fingers in and knocked instead. I heard nothing and wondered if I should knock again. I decided to open the door instead. As I looked inside I saw him sitting at the table, across the room, in the same spot as this afternoon.

"Sesshomaru-sama," I said as I came inside. Still he said nothing. I closed the door and started to walk towards him.

"Yes, Kagome," he said as he rolled up a scroll and placed it inside one of the many cubby holes that made up most of the shelf behind the desk.

"I was wondering what time you would like to leave tomorrow so I could be ready in time?" I asked him.

"After breakfast," he responded. He didn't look at me. He was looking at something else on the desk now. I felt a pull to touch his silver hair. My fingers needed to feel the strands passing over them at that moment. I almost couldn't stop myself.

"Thank you for taking me, I hope it's not too much trouble for you," I told him as I pulled my hands back. "Good night Sesshomaru-sama," I said before turning around and leaving the room. I left the room without hearing him speak again.

As I walked up the stairs I felt like I didn't do something I was suppose to. I slowed as I climbed higher. There was a question that wasn't asked, and with it not being asked, does it mean that I don't have to answer it? _I want to tell him yes if he ever asked me that question, but I have so much to do until then._ I jogged up the last set of steps and turned towards my room.

_He's giving me time. That has to be why he didn't ask, but told me it could happen if I wanted it to. I have to believe that._ I told myself as I got closer to my room.

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Go back three minutes.

I wanted to see her face but I couldn't turn to face her. I heard her breath, I heard her feet as they walked across the floor, and I closed my eyes to enjoy the rhythm of her heartbeat. As she got closer her smell made me move.

"Yes, Kagome," I answered her as I opened my eyes. I continued to pack away what I no longer needed, to see one of her school books sitting on my letters. The pounding of her heart became stronger and filled my ears.

She then asked when we would be leaving as I placed my hand on the shiny outside of her book. I had picked it up to read what was on the inside. The outside said it was about history, yet it held nothing of what I had heard, witnessed or done. I held it for a moment as I thought over why I even brought up the word mate when I spoke to her earlier. As her smell from the book reached me, I decided to blame it for my questionable behavior if not my words.

It was like something in me already knew, by smell, that she was suppose to be by my mine. I know what that meant, but I had never heard of it happening with a ningen before, but such information was never collected, never mind shared.

I heard nothing. She asked a question about when we would be leaving and was now just waiting. Her breathing was very close to me. I could have reached out and touched her if I wanted to.

"After breakfast," I told her. We should just get this over with. I need some questions answered and they would be better handled if she wasn't here. She said my name among other words and left the room. I focused my eyes to see my hand still on the book; her book. I look over to where she had fallen asleep that afternoon and there her other books still sat. _She will need to pack these also._ I continued to organize my things and prepared my desk for anything new that would find its way in front of me. I finally stood and looked down to just see her books. I collected them before outing the candles quickly as I swiftly passed by them as I exited the room.

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"Looks like Sesshomaru has called it a night. We should go in too," I suggested to Sango.

"I want to stay like this a little longer," she said as she looked from the dark library back up into the sky.

We sat in a swing seat that held us both easily that was suppose to be covered. Sango wanted to see the stars, so I moved the shading back for her. She was warm against my side as I rested my cheek on the top of her head as we looked up.

"Kouga, what kind of mating did you want to have with me?" she asked as she placed her hand over mine.

"I hadn't given it much thought," I told her truthfully. "When we were ready to mate, I was going to tell you and let you choose."

"My choice aside, which would you like?" she asked me. That sounded like a trap my mom would have and might have already used on me.

"Honestly, I like both," I told her. "With the turning I thought that you would look cute with a black tail, but then I thought that I liked you just the way you are now. That is why I'm not choosing, you are."

"Chicken," she called me.

"Yes I am," I answered her back without shame. I straightened my head and looked down at her. Her hair was blowing over my arm, and her face glowed from any light it could find. May it be from the candle light that came from the door way or a few rays of star light. She was beautiful, and mine. "But I'm also in love," I told her before bending to kiss and lick her lips that made me press down unto her causing her breast to flatten into chest. I stopped the kiss when I remembered the tale that my mother told me about the stars being our ancestors. _Now is not the time to be thinking of your mother._ I told myself as I smiled down at Sango.

"I think we should go to bed now," she said as she opened her eyes and smiled up at me.

"Okay," I answered, before standing with her.

I held her around the waist as we walked towards the house. "I want you to think about coming with me tomorrow," I told her as we stepped inside.

"I already said no," she said.

"I know what you said, but I'm asking you again. Kagome is going home and you won't have anything to do but sit and wait for her to come back," I told her again.

"Fine, I'll think about it," she said as we walked up the stairs. I smiled as we continued walking towards our room. As we stepped into the room, she started to move away from me. I closed the door and pulled her back into my arms.

"Just in case you say no," I told her as I kissed her again. I pulled her body to mine and I felt her shift under her clothes as she pushed closer to me. I started to pull at what she was covered in, but when her smell spiked and I heard her moan into my mouth, I knew that we weren't going to make it to the bed. I felt her starting to pull at my furs as I lowered her to the floor.

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"Hha…hah… hah… hahh…" he moaned as I pushing into him again and again. I looked at him laying below me twisting beautifully as I gave him what he wanted.

"In-u-ya-shaaaa," he moaned and slurred as a jolt hit him from me hitting something in him just right.

"Ahhhh…" I moaned myself as the wave of tingly pleasure passed over his body and through mine. I paused just long enough to see if he came. He hadn't and I continued again just slower than the speed I was at when we stopped.

I leaned further over his body and I felt his fingers as they reached for and gripped my thigh. I heard his moaning as it started to get louder again and I started to aim for that spot in him again as I shifted my hips. He arched and I continued going. The pleasure of him tight and hot around me wasn't as toe curing as when I had my demon senses and I found myself able to prolong the pooling feeling I had on the inside. I was going to take him to somewhere new.

I opened my eyes again and looked at Miroku's face. His skin looked good enough to lick, his eyes were screwed shut and his breathing was rapid between moans and cries. I watched his chest as the swaying of my darker hair gave me tunnel vision causing me to see his cock as liquid leaked and dripped from the tip. I licked my lips as I felt myself getting closer to coming.

My movements were already only half mine, and as I watched the milky white fluid slide down his hot hard skin to the black next at the base of his cock I lost all control of what I wanted to do to him and did what I felt I had to. My knees pushed further under him pushing him further up onto my lap. My hands held his side and I got enough strength to pull him from and to me as I moved myself in and out of his body. He tried to reach for his cock a few times but he had to put his hand back unto the bed to keep his back up, but soon that wasn't an issue as he came pulling me long with him. I felt its heat as it hit my chest and under my jaw. I huffed and puffed to get my breathing under control as I came back down and I saw Miroku under me again.

"Inuyasha," he called to me as he fully pushed himself up from his elbows to his hands to look into my eyes.

"Yes?" I asked him breathlessly.

"That was great," he said smiling back at me before giving me a quick kiss on my lips and falling backwards unto the bed. _That looks like a good position._ I told myself as I pulled out of him. I laid down next to him and rolled unto my back to find what strength I had gained, during our heated coupling, was spent. _I don't think I can do that again, at least not until my next change._ I looked over at Miroku as he looked upwards, breathing hard also.

"I don't want to move," I heard him say before he turned to look at me.

"At least you have a choice," I told him. "I don't think that I can move." So I just laid there as I felt him roll over unto my side and rested his hand over my stomach.

"That was what I thought about when we had our bath, but you did it much better than I thought it would be," he said as I felt him press his lips to shoulder. I didn't know what else he did as my eyes closed and I fell asleep.


	39. Chapter 39

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

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Chapter 39

"Do you know what they are?" Rin asked Shippo.

"Yeah," he answered. "They're Kagome's books for her school. She reads them to learn stuff for tests."

"Oh," Rin commented. "So why are they outside her door?" she asked him.

"I don't know," Shippo said as they continued to stand over the small stack of books that stood neatly outside of Kagome's door.

"Should we tell her that they're out here?" Rin asked.

Shippo breathed out after a moment of thinking about it. "I'll tell her," he said as he tuned to knock on her door.

"Coming," came from the other side of the door.

"Rin," came from behind both children causing them to turn around.

"Sesshomaru-sama, good morning," Rin said when she saw him.

"Good morning Sesshomaru-sama," Shippo said a moment later.

"Why are you here?" he asked both children.

"We found Kagome's books," Rin told Sesshomaru.

"Go down for breakfast," Sesshomaru told them.

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama," she said before turning to leave.

Shippo stood looking at Sesshomaru, before turning to look at Rin as she skipped down the hall. He was slightly torn with what to do. He had decided to tell Kagome about her books, but now he was being told to leave them. As Shippo looked up at Sesshomaru some of the healthy fear that he had for the demon lord came back, causing him to bow and run to quickly catch up with Rin as she started down the stairs.

"Almost there," came from the other side of the door. Sesshomaru looked up as Kagome opened the door wearing her blue checkered pajamas.

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_Once again, both of them aren't here. He may not have asked her to be his mate, but they do like each other it seems._ That thought flowed through my head as I smelled Sango's tea that she had been drinking since Kouga arrived.

I looked over at Inuyasha and his hair was pulled back, just for a change he said, after we found a drawer in his wardrobe that had a large selection of hair ribbons. I hadn't even seen it before because it was hidden above and inside the top drawer. Inuyasha appeared to have forgotten about it, and showed a great deal of interest in it when I found it by accident that morning while I tried to help get him dressed. It was hard to put clothes on him when I wanted to take them off. In the end he chose a black ribbon like mine, but it wasn't as worn out and much longer. When I pointed that out, he tossed mine out of the widow and gave me new one. _Will the gifts never end?_ I asked myself with a smirk as I accepted it.

That morning I had woken up in his arms realizing that he had moved to hold me and had also gotten a blanket to cover us. I'm sure it was the sunrise that woke him as he changed back. I reached out and touched his light embodied hair just to remember. As I fell asleep again I remembered his hair from the night before and realized that it did feel the same, no matter what color it was.

All our heads turned as the door opened and in walked Kagome with Sesshomaru. She seemed to be in better spirits than the night before. She smiled and said hello to everyone while Sesshomaru just walked to his seat before bowing to everyone at the table.

No one brought up the topic that was the cause of last night's excitement. Instead we talked about Kagome going back, about how long she would be gone and some of the actives she would be doing while she was home. When Kouga said that he wanted to take Sango home with him for a few days while Kagome was gone, it almost fell into a vote before she agreed to go with him for three days. This time Shippo wouldn't be going with them. He was going to stay and have studies with Rin.

Sesshomaru was his polite and restrained self throughout the meal. Agreeing and giving his consent here and there. Once Sango got back from her visit we, as in Inuyasha, Sango, Shippo and myself, were going to meet Kagome back at the hut before continuing our hut for more of the jewel shards.

During our last month of jewel hunting we hadn't come across any sign of Naraku and we hoped that it meant that he was still weak and recovering from our last encounter, which would give us extra time to get more shards before he did.

We also planned out our next visit with Sesshomaru would be. It was set for two weeks after Kagome came back, which sounded like it was going to be another week again.

When the meal ended, Rin ran with Shippo to meet with one of her teachers. Sango left with Kouga to pack and Inuyasha along with myself walked out of the room with Sesshomaru and Kagome. I think Inuyasha felt a bit odd not taking her to the well. He normally did when she wasn't mad at him.

Kagome asked us both if there was anything that we would like for her to bring back. I had no wishes and Inuyasha didn't make any demands either. She had already asked Rin and Shippo, before they had run off for their lesson, if they wanted something also. Besides the request for more sweets and 'lollipops' to share between them both, I think Rin asked for something special. If she did, it was a request that only Kagome heard. The little girl had pulled her down and whispered into her ear to let only Kagome know. I wondered if I would ever find out what her request was.

As we neared the front door, I saw Kagome's big yellow bag looking very light. That was always a sure sign of it being time for her to go home for a while. We paused at the door and stood around awkwardly for a moment before I reached over and gave her a hug. It was quick and I kept my hands high on her back to make sure that there weren't any misunderstandings for either of the brothers, and stepped back. After looking at me, Inuyasha mumbled a few words to her, mostly about getting what she needed done, done so when she got back she wouldn't be moaning about something she forgot. She said that she wouldn't and gave him a hug that he looked like he was trying hard not to return under the watchful eyes of Sesshomaru.

As she let go of him, Sesshomaru opened the door and walked out, leaving her to catch up. We stood on either side of the door and watched as she caught up with him. She told him something that I didn't get. I turned to Inuyasha to ask him, but his ears had flatted against his head. _Was it that bad?_ I wondered or was he just being considerate? I looked back to see that they had slowed and now stood still outside the gates.

I eased off of the door frame as he raised a hand and placed his arm around her shoulders. He was looking at us both as a cloud of energy appeared under their feet and they slowly rose into the air and then quickly drifted away in the direction of the well.

I turned to look at Inuyasha to hear what he would say, but he continued to look at them long after they were out of my sight.

"He was looking at you," I told him when I thought that Sesshomaru was far enough away for me to regain Inuyasha's attention.

"He was looking at both of us and you know it," Inuyasha shot back at me. He then turns to look at me before walking back inside.

"Let's go to the Dojo and practice," he says as he continues to walk in its direction.

"Shouldn't we change first?" I asked him as I caught up.

"Do we change before we go into a fight?" he asked me as we neared the Dojo.

_No we didn't. But didn't Sesshomaru say we had to dress like that to practice in there? _I did not say this of course.

I fought with my staff and Inuyasha resorted to his claws in something close to hand to hand combat. My robes were worse for wear an hour later. I should have at least insisted on changing into one of my older set of robes before we started.

By the time we sat down for a rest, we had already discarded some of our clothing and I was topless to try and save some part of my robe. I think I got a slight upper hand when I did that. I believed that he was actually trying not to cut me. I appreciated it, but a few more scars wouldn't make much difference to me at this point. When we started again I pressed him harder so he would really fight me. I didn't want him to go easy on me, no one else will when I had to fight for real.

He finally came after me with a bit more drive after I got him across the face with my staff. His blows were fast and I had to really think of a way to get around them and get away from being defensive and go on the attack myself.

I spun around him thinking I had a surprise move going when I saw his eyes open wide as I slipped by him, but when I turned towards him, he was waiting for me. I reached up to block, but he went low, and I felt all five of his claws as they raked across my stomach.

Inuyasha froze before I did. His triumphant smile turned into shock as the pain became accustomed to my body and I started to fall to my knees. I grasped my staff to keep from falling on the floor and causing myself more pain, but that wouldn't have happened. Even before I started to sway again, I felt Inuyasha holding on to me, helping me to stand. He was saying he was sorry and that things were going to be fine, but mostly he said that he was sorry.

I heard him calling for Amaya as he helped me to walk out of the room. I heard Sango ask what happened as she took my staff from me and either held it or gave it to someone to hold. I don't think I heard it fall. Soon Amaya was there asking Inuyasha what he needed. He told her to get anything they had to help stop the bleeding and medicine for the pain along with ointments for the cuts to heal cleanly. I think she may have run back to where she came from, for all I knew.

There was something else going on besides some simple cuts. I felt hot and my vision wasn't as clear anymore. I remember being lead up the stairs. I remember feeling the bed under me. I remember seeing a very young Sesshomaru over me before… nothing.

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Ya, it's short, but there is nothing I can do about it.

But it's a nice point in the story don't you think? :)

Now my cliff hangers will work. :)


	40. Chapter 40

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

* 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 = Means that it's the same POV just a shift in time.

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Chapter 40

The house seemed exactly the same as the last time I saw it thirty or so years ago, but the area around it had changed a great deal. Only the high bamboo fence kept the other houses from getting any closer to the structure while the garden gave a good reason to have the increased foot traffic a reasonable distance away. The young ningen girl who answered the door said that Masami-sama would see me shortly.

I sat in a well breezed room and waited. I thought of the questions I wanted to ask her and also slightly prepared myself for any comments she may make concerning why I was asking them.

I heard small feet as they came closer to the room. In slipped the same girl that answered the door as she carefully balanced a tea tray while entering the room. As she was arranging the pieces in front of me I heard Masami approaching.

"Sesshomaru-sama," she said as she entered the room.

"Masami-sama," I addressed her. She had earned that title despite not having been born with it. From since I was a pup she had earned my respect along with some fear.

"To what do I owe this visit my lord?" she asked as she took the seat opposite of mine. Her eyes traveling over me in a kind way but with a smile I wasn't pleased in seeing. _What could she already see?_ "I heard that your brother along with his ningen friends and the leader of the Northern Wolf tribe are staying at your home," she started after I stayed silent a bit too long. "Are you here because of one of them?" she asked. _Did she already know something? _The fact that she asked shows that she has some interest in this already, or she would just have waited for me to speak.

"Partly," I told her. _Now I have to use my bother to keep her from thinking about me._ "It's about the turning in a mating ceremony. Can it work for half demons?" I asked.

Any other creature that dared to say that they knew me would have shown some measure of surprise at me asking about something, seemingly on my brother's behalf. Masami's eyes just got thinner.

"It is possible," she started. She reached out for the pot with white fingers that shone with blue green flecks and poured us both some tea. Willingly I took mine and watched her over the rim of my cup as she just held hers. I placed my cup back unto the shiny surface of the table quite emptied. "It's a little less traumatic for the ningen since it's not full demon's blood they would be receiving. The hanyō's life will still decrease, but not by much since it was already shortened by their mixed blood." Now she took a sip of her tea.

"How long of a life span would they have?" I asked her.

"It depends on how old the hanyō is to begin with," she said looking right at me. "If they were to be, let's say the same age as your brother and they aged normally. They would have at least three hundred years before they started to feel old age starting to creep into their bodies, compared to at least one thousand years if the hanyō had been a full demon."

Her eyes flickered through a few light and dark shades of their jade coloring before opening wider. I could almost say that she looked pleased. Even if I think she believes that she has figured this thing out, I wasn't going to say it out loud unless she did first.

"Is it true that they act like each other after the turning?" I asked with the tea cup just away from my lips. I had managed to refill it myself while Masami's mind did what it did to understand why I was really there. I didn't believe for one moment that she completely accepted everything I was telling her.

"Yes and no. Some do pick it up, while others don't at all. Also, some of the behavioral changes that one sees after the turning were already there before. They were just not noticed." She visibly paused. "How old is this ningen?" I held the cup to my lips even though it was already empty. This was not something I expected. At least not like this. I have no idea how old the monk was, but she didn't know that my brother's partner is the monk never mind a male. At least I don't think so.

"Seventeen," I answered with Kagome's age as I lowered my cup.

"Your brother is interested in one so young? But then he does look that age to them," she said before sipped some tea. "It would have been better if he was with one a few years older, so she would have less trouble with the turning and the physical mating. Not to mention birthing the pups. They are so fragile when so young, but like I said, the fact that he is a hanyō and not a full blooded demon like my lord, would make most of that a bit easier," she finished.

"What would be a better age for a ningen to do this?" I asked her. I wasn't happy with this uneasy feeling I was having.

"After their twentieth year would be better," she answered. _Three years! I just wanted to be more informed before continuing, but I can't even continue now? Well, I can continue, but we can't mate for three more years._ I watched her as she poured the tea again and as she sipped from her cup before looking out into the garden. _I wish I had known this before I took Kagome to the well._

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**We didn't go directly to the well. We first went to that old hut at her request. I wasn't even aware that I still had my arm around her when we landed until she pointed it out to me as she tried to leave my side. My body instantly felt the lost of her own with the heat it possessed as she moved away and it took a moment before I was ready to follow her. As I stood there watching her walk ahead of me I spread out my yōkai to warn any lesser demon that I was in the area and that I was not to be trifled with.**

**I sat down on one of the steps after quite successfully turning down the idea of cleaning the step off with my mokomoko. There was no way I was going to use it like a scrap of cloth to clean a seat. I looked up into the clear sky and listened to Kagome as she moved inside the little structure. **

**When she emerged her yellow bag sounded even emptier than when she left the house. I heard a few small things moving against each other as she walked down the steps. I also heard something new that sounded bigger than anything that could fit in her bag but I wasn't sure what it was. As she passed me to stand at foot of the steps I saw that it was her riding machine. **

**She stood there smiling into my face to let me know that she was ready. I liked her smile. I stood on the other side of her two wheeled thing and walked with her as companion and guard to the well. **

"**Do you want me to bring back something for you?" Kagome asked after she saw the well coming into view. I thought about this briefly. From what I had heard about her time, it was very far removed from my time now. There was nothing…brown, sweet, sticks.**

"**Rin gave me some sticks with something brown and sweet covering them. I do not remember the name," I told her. She looked down for a while then lifted her head smiling again.**

"**Pocky," she said. "Would you mind another flavor? They have others beside chocolate. That was the brown stuff on them. They have a green tea one now, and they have coconut flavored and honey, and strawberry. But I guess you don't know what a strawberry is." She stopped when we were just a foot from the well. "I have some strawberries at home. I can run and get you some so you can see if you like them or not," she said looking up at me. **

**I turned and looked at the well. _This is how one moves through time. _I mused to myself before I picked up her riding machine and wrapped my other arm around Kagome's small waist before jumping into the well.**

**Kagome had started to say something when I jumped in, but once the blue void around us appeared with it specks of light she stopped and eased her hold around my neck. **

"**How did you do that?" she asked me as we slowly floated in a downward direction. **

"**Do what?" I asked her. "You said that to go to your time, you jumped into the well."**

"**Y****e****ah, but no one but Inuyasha has ever been able to go through the well with me," she explained. **

"**Do you know why?" I asked her only to have our conversation stopped by the arrival of the bottom of the well. I looked from side to side to see nothing more than just the inside of a well, a very dry one at that. I looked up to see if the sky had stayed the same to find myself looking at a roof. I tightened my hold on her and she in turn wrapped her arms around me as we started to float out. When we emerged I saw steps leading out of the structure that was now built around the well. I landed on the platform at the top of those steps in front of a set of double doors. **

**I lowered Kagome to the ground along with her machine. After a moment of looking into each other's face we pulled our hands back letting go of each other, I then gave her back the wheeled thing. It seemed that she was reluctant to let go of me this time which gave me some small measure of comfort that we shared that same feeling. She blushed as she took it from me and pushed her way through the doors. I stood still as the fainter smells I had noticed became full blown now that the doors were open. It was like the smell of Kyoto** **but increased, compacted and aged. There were other smells here that I didn't know and I didn't wish to find out where they came from as I tried to ****stop them from burning their way into my lungs.**

**I looked for Kagome to find her walking towards a house that wasn't that far away. Further off in the distance, past the structure that Kagome was walking towards, stood a tree that looked familiar for some reason. There was a low wooden fence around it, and it was decorated with hanging, folded paper. I looked at it, giving it time to tell me who it was. Goshinboku. It was the tree that Inuyasha was nailed to for fifty years. Maybe it had done something else, worthy of it being honored now. **

**I looked for Kagome again. Her thing was leaning against the building and she was waiting for me. In an instant I was at her side resisting the impulse of putting my arm around her waist. **

"**Now I have to warn you," she started as she looked from the door to me. "My family doesn't really know you as a good guy, and they really don't know about our … friendship," she told me.**

**_Good they will be intimidated by me. The way it should be. _"Understood," I told her. I watched her as she took a deep breath, straightened her shoulders and opened the door. **

"**Mama, I'm home," she shouted into the house. "Grandpa! Sota! Anyone home?" Kagome shouted as she moved further into the house. I looked around and recognized almost nothing. As I closed the ****door I realized that the smell inside was better than what was out there. I then stood there, waiting for her to come back. It hadn't sounded like she want far, and she was back rather quickly. **

"**I guess no one is home yet, although grandpa should be here," Kagome said as she walked towards some doors. "Well here are the strawberries," she said as she pulled one of the doors open, allowing cold air to enter the room. She picked out a green small basket with roundish red things in it and closed it again. She placed them in front of me and I looked at them, before looking at her again. **

"**These are strawberries. They're fruits," she said as she picked up one by its green stem and ate the red part. I picked up one also, not being surprised that it was also cold and sniffed it. It wasn't unpleasant and I dared to taste it when I saw Kagome taking another. **

**It was slightly tart at first, but the sweetness of the fruit took over before the taste settled into something clean and refreshing. It wasn't bad. I finished it and placed the now useless stem next to the ones Kagome had in front of her. **

"**Did you like it?" she asked with her eyes sparkling. I almost smiled. **

"**It was good," I told her. Her expression didn't change, like she knew I would like it. **

"**So I can get that kind also?" she asked as she took one more from the basket before putting them back behind the cold doors. **

"**You may," I told her, thinking that if I didn't like them I could give them to Rin. She walks over to other doors that were higher and different in color and size than the cold ones. I saw boxes and ****other things before she moved to another as she looked for something. **

"**Here we go," she said as she pulled out something and closing that door. Kagome stood before me again and pushed what she had found across the high table at me. At first I just saw its shiny wrapping, but then I saw what was on the inside. It was the sticks covered in the brown color I knew of. **

"**I know that it's just a small travel pack, but I would like you to accept it as a thank you for bringing me home today," she said as she blushed, while smiling at me. I reached out and placed a hand on hers causing her to turn another shade of red. **

"**I thought of you as the girl with the apple blush, but your temperament is more of that of a strawberry," I told her as I leaned closer. "May I taste you?" I asked just before we touched. Everything that I was feeling for Kagome since I placed my arms around her body that morning, possessiveness, happiness, need, want, and protectiveness had built up in me and I needed to kiss her in some fashion as the want for her touch came back to fill me again. I felt her free hand as it held the side of my face as we kissed. It wasn't as innocent as the one she gave me before. I pressed the kissed and felt her moan into my mouth from being surprised. I really didn't want to stop, but this wasn't the time or the place to go further with one who hasn't done this before never mind with a demon.**

**I pulled back until our lips just touched, then pulled back some more until I could clearly see her whole face. I leaned on the surface between us to reach out with my free hand to move a few strands of her hair behind her ear. _I really couldn't stop from touching her now that I've started. _**

**Her breathing changed with the increase of her heart beats when my fingers started to trace her ear. So much lighter than the other ears I've touched. The rounded shape at the top let my fingers slide down the back easily. I saw the faint shadow of my fingers as they moved behind her earlobe…**

**Someone was coming. I pulled completely away from Kagome and turned to look at the doorway that I heard the footsteps coming from. **

"**Just put them on the counter Sota," a female voice said as I heard more footsteps. A young ningen boy walking into the room we occupied caring some things that looked like bags and stopped when he saw me. **

"**Cool," he said after a moment of standing there and staring, to continue to stand there and stare. **

"**Ah, Sota. Go into the kitchen. Why are you standing there?" I could now see the female who was ****speaking. She was taller than Kagome, but with much shorter hair and she was also carrying a bag like the boy.**

"**Mama, let me help you with that," Kagome said as she moved towards them. As the woman looked up and saw me standing in what I believed to be her home, she stood still as Kagome took what she was holding and pushed the boy further into the room. **_**This had to be her family.**_** I thought. I bowed slightly, not taking my eyes off them.**

"**Ahm, everyone, this is Sesshomaru-sama," Kagome said as she placed what she was holding down and stood next to me. I curved my fingers into the palm of my hand that was next to her, to keep from holding her shoulder in front of them. To show that she was mine was an instinct that was hard to fight with, but I did it and it didn't help that they showed up when they did. The temptation of her lips was still there. **

"**Inuyasha's brother?" the boy named Sota asked, pulling me from the thought of touching her lower back so I could touch her without being seen. **

"**Yes. Half brother," I answered him automatically as I fought against myself. **_**There will be better times for that. **_**I told myself. **

"**Wicked Cool," he said this time. From the smile on his face I decided to believe that it was something good. He even moved further into the room and placed what he had on the raised surface along with what Kagome had there. **

**_I didn't have anything to small talk about with these people,_ was a thought I had as they came closer. I turned to look at Kagome. She had moved and was now unpacking what the woman and boy had brought.**

"**I will see you in three weeks time," I told her. I turned to leave when I felt like I had snagged myself on something. I looked back to see her holding onto my sleeve. **

"**You forgot this," she said as she released me from her hold and presented me with the packet of brown sticks from earlier. **

**I took them and nodded my gratitude before stepping from the house. In a moment I was at the well again jumping in. The blue darkness came back with its own version of the stars. When I landed the walls looked moist. I looked up and saw the sky as I rose from inside the well. I didn't descend but climbed higher as I now made my way to Masami's house. **

*** 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0**

I heard the knock at the door, but I didn't turn to acknowledge it.

"Come in," Masami said. In walked the same girl from before.

"Masami-sama," she started. She stopped to look at me before continuing. "A messenger from Sesshomaru-sama's house was just here. Someone is injured and needs your help," she finished.

Masami speared me a glance as I looked at the girl.

"What did they say about the injury?" she asked as she stood and started to leave the room. As she got to the door way she stopped and turned to look at me.

"At your leave Sesshomaru-sama," she said. "Will you be going ahead of me my lord?" she then asked.

"Yes," I told her as I stood, thinking of Rin. I bowed and left through the open doors leading into the garden. It wasn't long before I could see my home coming into view as I continued to fly towards it.

* * *

I managed to stay in one person's head for 6 whole pages.

I liked how I got come back to 'now' and see a fridge, but my stay was too short for me, but I needed to get some things out there.

Oh, I was also trying to come up with my own way of how anyone would get mated, so there are bits all over. There was some of it before, which is more or less the jest of it, back when Inuyasha was human, but this adds a bit more and more is to come later.


	41. Chapter 41

Chapter 41

"I'm sorry," I repeated as I sat next to our bed. Masami-sama had already seen him and tended to his wound. He was slightly groggy from some medicine that she gave him for the pain and another one just in case there was still something there to cause an infection she told me.

"I told you to stop staying that," Miroku told me once more. He reached out his hand and held one of mine. "I'm the one who provoked you. I'm the one who should be sorry," he said smiling weakly at me.

"This isn't funny. I could have killed you today," I told him in a voice that I knew was too loud. I felt the tears in the back of my eyes once more and I fought them back again.

"I'm rather proud of that myself," Miroku said as his gaze slid upward.

"Proud? Proud of what?" I asked him to get back his attention.

"I helped you to find a new ability," he stated. "That should be something to be proud of." Miroku's eyes turned towards me again. "Do you know why?" he asked me after a moment.

"No." I shook my head. "I was going to ask Masami-sama later," I told him.

"Go ask her now, I feel like taking a nap," he said slowly as he squeezed my hand. In moments I watched him as he fell asleep. I lifted his hand and kissed it before placing it at his side. I then left our room to find Masami-sama.

I found her with Sesshomaru in the greeting room. When I sat down she asked me if I wanted any tea. I told her no and quickly got to the reason for why I came looking for her instead of staying next to Miroku.

"Why did my claws do that to him?" I asked her. She looked at me for a moment before she drank some of her tea. _Again with the damn tea! _

"Sesshomaru-sama and I have been talking to understand this also. We have a few reasons why, but with your mother already being dead, we can only guess," Masami-sama said. My _mother?_

"What does my mother have to do with this?" I asked her.

"Your body is behaving as if it was more demon than ningen. You may be eighty-six years old, but your body thinks that it's only thirty-six and for a normal demon you would be getting more of your abilities around this time." She paused to look at me. "Sesshomaru-sama said that you had moments when your demon half took over your human side and you attacked others without knowing. Has that happened recently?" she asked me.

"No, it hasn't," I said shaking my head. "What has that got to do with this?" I asked Masami-sama, feeling that she was getting off topic.

"I think that your mother may have had some demon blood in her," Masami said. "She could have been the great granddaughter of a demon who mated with a ningen one hundred years ago."

I sat there looking at the two of them. Sesshomaru looked at me for a moment before looking out one of the windows. _Ok, I understand what they are say__ing__, but what does that really mean for me?_

"Why does my body think that I'm only thirty-six years old?" I asked her.

"When that miko nailed you to the tree with the arrow, you were frozen in time. Everything about you stopped. You didn't know about time passing you by on the outside and time itself didn't age you in anyway. Since your release your body has started to age again and it continued from the moment before you were stuck to the tree," she ended.

"So how is this related to when I my demon blood took over my body?" I asked not really getting the connection.

"It could have been that your demon side was trying to come out more and it had to fight with your ningen blood that had been breed into you over the generations. I don't think that it will be that bad of a transformation from now on if it happens at all. In time you might be able to call that side of you forward at will and be in control of it," Masami-sama said before looking at the cup in her hand. She moved it around in a thoughtful way before looking at me again. "What I don't understand is why your claws are becoming poisonous now. There should have been some signs that you were able to do this around the time your demon blood took over if not too long after. Since I'm sure that it was a sign of the rest of your demon abilities coming to the surface."

She placed her cup down and looked at me as she held her hands in her lap. I sat a little further back in my chair when I saw Sesshomaru starting to do that same. I hung my head a little lower. _What where they looking at?_ I tried to hide even though I knew I could not.

"Do not hang your head," Sesshomaru told me, so I squared my shoulders to look up and past them. _Older brothers, even when you hate them, you felt like you have to obey them at times. Too many things were happening for me to start picking a fight now, _I told myself as I exhaled and looked back at Masami-sama.

"I see and sense nothing but a health hanyou sitting before me," she said as her eyes crinkled around the edges making her eyes shine brighter. She started to think of something else as she looked past my shoulder to a point on the wall. Sesshomaru seemed to have lost his interest in me and looked at Masami-sama instead.

"Were you under a spell of some kind until recently?" she asked as she now looked at me again.

"Yes, he was," Sesshomaru told her before I could say anything. Masami-sama's gaze didn't leave me when she heard this.

"What kind of spell?" she then asked. Now Sesshomaru looked at me. _Guess he doesn't know that __part._

"I wore something called the "Beads of Subjugation". I've worn them almost since the time I was released from the tree until a day ago," I told her and informed Sesshomaru.

"Why were you wearing those beads?" Sesshomaru asked me. "And who placed them on you?"

"An old miko named Kaede put the beads on me when I was trying to get the Jewel of Four Souls from Kagome. Kagome then used their power to keep me from attacking her. Kaede made them work that way and no one but Kagome could have taken them off of me. Not even Kaede," I ended.

Masami-sama looked at me while nodding her head. She seemed to have found an answer to all her whys. I saw Sesshomaru looking out the window and I once again didn't have a clue what he was thinking.

"But that shouldn't have stopped me," I told her. "It didn't stop my demon blood from taking me over like that, why would it stop anything else?" I asked Masami-sama.

"When your demon blood tried to take over, it must have also been fighting with the beads and that is why it was so traumatic. As for your claws today, they became like that only after the beads were removed so it seems that changes are now being allowed," she said.

_Now what? _"Will anything else happen to me?" I asked Masami.

"I don't know, probably not," she said before standing. "A demon could take anywhere from one year to four years to receive all their abilities once they have started. But you are not a full blooded demon, so you shouldn't have many powers, if any. Which is why we believe your mother had some demon blood in her for this to be possible," she concluded.

I stood, not knowing what else to do.

"Thank you, Masami-sama, for your help," I said. "Did you leave any pain medicine for Miroku to take later?" I asked her as I decided to spend the rest of the day in my room with Miroku.

"Yes. It's the white one next to the bed," she told me. "He is to be given three sips, three times a day until he no longer feels any pain. If he runs out before that time contact me. The green one is to help him sleep at night. He needs to sleep to help with the healing. He is to receive two sips of that one once a day, once the sun has set."

I bowed to her and nodded to Sesshomaru before leaving the room and heading back upstairs.


	42. Chapter 42

I own nothing but my own sick little ideas. It was time that I brought up the little notice again.

This is the chapter that now unofficially starts vol 2 of my little novel. Yes, it's a nice mile stone. Shame I didn't see it until now.

Well here we go again.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

* 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 = Means that it's the same POV just a shift in time.

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Chapter 42

"Kagome, aim for his head!" Inuyasha shouted as he started to run towards Naraku.

"Right," she said more to herself more than anyone else. Something dark made its way towards Kagome, but Inuyasha didn't see it as he was occupied with the new tentacles that Naraku had acquired since the last time they met. He was finding it easier to battle them off and was considering this an easy fight now that they had gotten past Naraku's not so little demon army. Inuyasha believed that they would be able to get him before they were on their last set of legs, like most battles with Naraku normally ended for them.

Inuyasha slashed his sword back and forth hacking at limbs as he felt his hair getting soaked with sweat and sticking to his scalp, face and neck.

"Kagome! Where is that arrow?" Inuyasha shouted when he had temporary cut himself a tentacle free path to Naraku.

"One Minute!" Kagome shouted back at him as she let the arrow fly at the dark demon creature that was chasing her. It must have been the last one left, but not for long. The arrow hit its mark and the thing disintegrate into black dust that wasn't given time to fall to the ground as a breeze lifted them up to scatter them over the battle field. She notched the next arrow into her bow and aimed it at Naraku's twisted mind that laid in his skull.

As its white light trail alerted everyone to its presence and target, Kagome notched another arrow in her bow and waited for the right moment. Miroku stood guard over Kagura to keep her from interfering in the fight going on behind him. Miroku watched Kagura with his hand on his beads, ready to release his kazāna if she looked like she was itching for a fight. So far, since she was first cornered and told to stay still with the treat of death by void, she's done nothing more than look on at the battle playing out in front of her.

Miroku wanted to look and see how it was going, but he wasn't going to turn his back on her. Everyone had their part to play and he wasn't going to let Inuyasha and the others down. He heard the sparks and blooms, before the dying fizzles as Shippo did his job of keeping the saimyōshōs at bay and away from him in case he had to use his kazāna for any reason.

Miroku had been intriguingly surprised when Inuyasha told him of how Sesshomaru had shown Shippo how to strengthen his fox fire magic, when he was recovering from his accidental wound. Shippo then proceeded to show off what he had learned on their walk to the hut to meet up with Kagome a few days later. His flames had increased in size and heat and he could now start more than one at a time. Since then he has been in charge of starting the camp fire when they stopped for the night.

Shippo knew that it was going to be a little different from when he practiced or showed off to his friends, but he wasn't going to let anyone down no matter how many of them there were. He just had to look and concentrate on each one of them long enough to get the fire going. Then the flame would take care of the rest, causing them to fall like the burnt popcorn shells that Inuyasha would throw at him when he wasn't looking.

Sango stiffened her arm as she grabbed a hold of Hiraikotsu as it came back to her as she sat on Kirara who hovered over everyone. She positioned it behind her back and looked to see which one of his tentacles had grown back enough to cause a problem for Inuyasha.

When they came up with this plan he didn't have this many of them. It was a good thing that the plan was made. Everyone knew what to do and no one would be trying to fight someone else's battle along with their own. Sango knew that she could keep those things a bay. _It was nothing more complicated than chopping ugly vines and nothing more satisfying then seeing them fall from a good cut_, she thought to herself. Sango looked at the arrow that now made its way towards Naraku's main body. She watched as it stuck his protective barrier and cracked it as it tried to push through. Sango saw Inuyasha as he followed it at a full on run. He physically collided with the barrier, wedging Tetsusaiga in, next to Kagome's arrow.

**- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -**

I sensed the barrier becoming weaker and knew that there were just moments left before it had to fall. I hated hiding like this, but I wanted this ongoing battle with Naroku to come to an end for everyone's safety. Surprise was a weapon we all choose to use.

**- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -**

**BOOM!**

Everyone was pushed back from the expanded energy of the collapsed barrier. Naroku laid on the ground, stunned from being in the center of the blast. Kagome lifted her bow and arrow when she saw Inuyasha raise his arm with Tetsusaiga. Sesshomaru grew his claws to an even deadlier point as acid collected and darkened in their tips.

"BACKLASH WAVE!" was screamed from Inuyasha's lungs as he brought his sword down and aimed his attack at the demon laying on the ground. A whistling sound was heard as Kagome's next arrow raced towards Naroku's position again, this time colliding and merging with Inuyasha's attack before reaching its true target. Naraku's body imploded from the force of the attack before it exploded from the purification effect of the arrow's head.

Naraku's head was still attached to one of his shoulders and his heart was still beating inside his now visible ribcage. There was his heart. He had one no matter how black it had become, and they were going to stop it.

Naraku tried to laugh but with most of his lungs missing he was only able to produce an airy bubbling sound as some blood trickled from his mouth. Parts of him had been purified and were nowhere to be seen as he called to other parts of himself to start re-building his chest. He had one failed attempt to levitate up from his bloody spot before he started to crawl towards the masses of flesh that crawled under his spell towards him.

A hand reached out and stopped him from getting any closer to what he wanted. Their claws punctured his skull, breaking bone before disintegrating them. Sesshomaru lifted him for everyone to see as green acid slowly ate its way from the inside of his head out through his eyes balls that looked around wildly in terror. Sesshomaru pushed his other hand into his ribcage, crushing Naroku's heart in his hand as he folded his poisonous tips into it, truly turning it black with its impending death.

Naraku did the only thing he could do with half a mind left. His body panicked. Built in preservation without a plan kicked in, in an attempt to keep him alive long enough to regenerate. Every pore in his remaining body parts opened and released miasma to weaken, if not kill, who was trying to bring him to his end.

"Ah!..aha.. haa…" Kagura coughed and gasped as she held her chest. _No! _She thought even as she knew that she dying too. She pulled herself around to look at Sesshomaru as he killed the one who was killing her. His eyes were red, his hair floated on the current and power of his yōkai like white mist as he was starting to be surrounded by the darkness of the miasma. Everyone else moved back from the growing purple cloud that would bring them their own death. Only her savior stayed to see his job through to the end. Her vision swam in the tears that the miasma burned from her eyes in an attempt to keep her from seeing the acid scorched bones of her detested master. She saw the glow of Sesshomaru's perfect white image before slipping from this world.

As the cloud started to dissipate Sesshomaru saw that he was just holding fragments of badly discolored bones. Everyone came back to see what was left of the enemy that had brought all their lives together. Inuyasha kicked aside most of the body that was left to reveal nine jewel shards laying in a mixed puddle of his brother's acid and Naraku's blood. He lifted them with the help of his fire rat clothing, and wiped them clean before handing them to Kagome, who allowed him to drop them into her little glass jar.

"Ah! What was that?" Shippo screamed as he jumped from something that passed by his legs as he stood next to Inuyasha. Everyone looked around and saw the other pieces of Naroku move and crawl towards them.

"Miroku, is your kazāna sealed or not?" Inuyasha asked him as he looked in his direction before looking back at the moving, crawling masses of flesh and limbs at their feet. Everyone backed away as Miroku unwrapped the beads sealing his hand. He lowered the flap and his heart fell for a moment as he felt the void push against his body as it tried to suck in what was in front of it.

Miroku aimed it at the bones, he passed it over the disgusting remains of something that should never have been, along with Kagura's now lifeless body. As her magical fan followed her remains, the winds from his hand died down until they came to a complete stop. He looked at the back of his hand for a while, waiting to see if it would start back up again, but it didn't. He moved his other hand careful overly over its palm to find it smooth. The dull internal pain belonging to that hand and the void was gone.

He swallowed before turning it to face him. He believed the hole to be gone, but it was still hard to no longer heed all the warnings he had for doing that simple action. He looked at his hand, and saw his hand. A solid hand, with a palm, that showed him a long life line.

*** 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0**

They were tired and happy, but not tired from being happy. They all wondered at the way their plans had changed as they found themselves being the honored guests at a village's celebration dinner. They sat in the middle of the gathering and watched the villagers as they danced and laughed and drank around them.

**They had been on a scouting trip for jewel shards, which lead them to this attacked village. The villagers then pointed them to where they thought the demon came from. They said that more were there and that they had been gathering for the past week or so. Inuyasha asked why they didn't leave when they saw them. They told him that the demons, until that day, acted like they never saw the village and simply moved on. **

**This lead them to believe that either there is one or a number of jewel shards that the demons were trying to get at, or it was Naraku building another army. The group thought the latter was more possible for the number of demons they were told about.**

**In the event that they did find Naraku, they went over a plan that they had slowly been piecing together for the past month and half, when they all started looking for the jewel shards together. They went over parts of Naraku's attack and came up with a way and a person that was best suited to combat that defense. When they set out from their camp early the next day they hoped that they were ready. **

**As they got closer Sesshomaru was the first to detect Naraku. They believed more in their plan when all the demons in the group concluded that Naraku's yōkai was weaker then they had ever detected it. Someone brought up the possibility that he may have been in a barrier and that was why his yōkai felt weak, but Miroku said that he didn't sense one. They wondered why he was so weak as they got closer, but they couldn't believe that he was still injured from their last battle.**

**Whatever the reason was for his believed weakened state, they were going to take advantage of it. They didn't have time to scout once they got close enough. They saw the demon army milling around just beyond the trees. It was more than they expected and were grateful that they approached down wind. The body of demons that churned before them was twice the number they received from the villagers. **

"**Guys, I hope you're ready?" Inuyasha said to everyone as he stood in front of them looking at what they had to defeat to reach Naraku. **

"**Yes," Kagome answered.**

"**Ready," Miroku added.**

**Sango didn't say anything, but they knew she was ready. Kirara knew that it was time for battle also and flamed into her bigger form. **

"**I'm ready," Shippo chimed in after he stared a few fires to make sure. **

**Inuyasha turned and looked at Sesshomaru. They looked at each other for a moment before nodding their understanding and conveyed luck to each other. Kagome looked over at Sesshomaru and watched as he faded into the thick cover of the trees to their left. His golden eyes held hers until he disappeared completely. In a moment she couldn't even sense his yōkai from anything else around them.**

**Kagome bit her lip as she thought of not seeing him before sucking it up and telling herself how silly that was. Sesshomaru would survive. She had to make sure that she did too, so she recommitted herself to doing her part in defeating Naraku. She took out an arrow from the quiver on her back and held it in her bow as she started to step forward with everyone else. **

Shippo ran by their table with a few of the boys from the village as the rest of the group watched on. Sesshomaru sat next to Kagome. Sango sat between her and Miroku with Kirara sleeping in her lap. Miroku sat to her right with Inuyasha sitting at the other end of the table facing the crowd before them.

Everyone was talking and drinking with each other at the table. Everyone had gotten more use to having Sesshomaru around and it showed. If anyone saw that Kagome's hand had disappeared under Sesshomaru's sleeve that pooled on the mat between them, they didn't say anything. Sango had a few drinks, but was far more sober than the two males at the end of the table.

"Ah!" Inuyasha suddenly yelped causing those close by to see him sitting upright one minute, and glaring at Miroku the next. He was half under the table and his eyes looked close but he was smiling and his head rolled slightly to one side.

Inuyasha caught Sesshomaru's eyes and stood to say that he would be turning in now and that he would be taking Miroku since he didn't look like he could eat or drink anymore. As Inuyasha bent to pick up Miroku, someone came forward to show him to a room that they could sleep in.

Once they were gone a few girls made their way over to Sango's side and started to ask her a lot of questions as if the boys had been a barrier keeping them at bay. They then asked to pet and hold Kirara once she woke up from all the chatting around her. The little two tailed cat, stood and got petted by everyone there, giving them each a turn before she walked away from all the chatter and music to find a quieter place to take a nap.

No one wanted to get too close to the demon lord, but if they had to pass by his part of the table, they would bow out of respect, gratitude and fear if they looked at him too long. This left Sesshomaru and Kagome fairly isolated once Sango drifted off with the girls who wanted her attention.

Kagome watched two young men as they walked over to the group of girls and smiled as one of them started to talk to Sango. Sesshomaru looked down at Kagome and for a moment felt jealous of not being the one she was smiling at. He squeezed her hand and waited to see her eyes. She didn't disappoint. Kagome's eyes met his as she returned the squeeze under the sleeve that continued to hide their connection. Content with seeing a smile that was his own, he wondered where he was going to be spending the night and turned away to look up at the sky.

The dinner celebration that was being held for them was outside in the middle of the village. It was a simple fare and everyone looked happy. Sesshomaru found himself caring, more than he would like, about ningens and if they were happy or not. The villages under his rule did not see this as a bad thing however and in the past months they considered themselves privileged to be graced with his presence and attention.

"Are you ready to leave?" Kagome asked him. He nodded once and finished his tea as she stood up, letting go of his hand. She stood for moment and soon the noise died down and everyone looked at her.

"We would like to thank you for everything you have done for us, and we are happy knowing that we leave you in such high spirits. Thank you and enjoy the rest of your night," she said before bowing to everyone present as they clapped.

*** 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0**

"Are you sure that you don't want to sleep inside tonight?" Sesshomaru asked Kagome as she slipped inside his sleeping bag after adding some more sticks to their little fire. This started happening after the night Kagome asked Sesshomaru to stay next to her while she slept when they were on their first jewel hunting trip, a month and a half ago. They had slowly inched closer each night until it was normal for everyone to see them sleeping with each other at some point during the night.

The weather was starting to get colder so Sesshomaru brought the sleeping bag that Kagome gave him, to keep the both of them warm. It was also because of the colder weather that Rin was left behind on this trip.

Kagome wrapped her arms him, bringing herself closer to his beating heart and tucking her head just below his chin so the smell of him could help her sleep. Sesshomaru closed the sleeping bag even more before moving his fingers through her hair.

"We did it," she said. "We finally beat Naraku," she said as she moved her fingers over his back. Sesshomaru tried to remind himself that holding her was good enough, but he still eased back to kiss her on her forehead.

"Yes, he's gone," he replied. "I'm glad that nothing happened to you," he confessed.

"So am I," she told him. "I really wanted to see you again."

"Sleep," he told her as he gave her a squeeze before once again enjoying her closeness.

"Yes, Sesshomaru," she told him as she settled a little closer before falling asleep in his arms.

**# ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ #**

**Kazāna** - wind tunnel (in case you forgot)

**Saimyōshō** - Naraku's minion wasps from hell


	43. Chapter 43

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

* 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 = Means that it's the same POV just a shift in time.

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Chapter 43

The next day, just before noon, the rest of the group that stayed in the village for the night met up with Sesshomaru and Kagome at the last camp they had made before they came across the village. Kagome and Sango prepared lunch by sharing out the food that they had been given by the villagers when they left that day. They all sat around talking about what they should do now as they ate some smoked fish.

"I think we should keep looking for the shards and make the jewel whole again," Kagome said. This was her main reason for coming back to the feudal era all these years. Now that Naraku was no longer a threat, they could take their time collecting the pieces without worrying that they would run into him, or any of his plans to get the jewel shards from them.

"Why? I thought we were getting the shards to keep them from Naraku?" Inuyasha asked her. The reason he had first wanted the jewel for was no longer valid and almost forgotten. Sesshomaru showed that he was willing to be his brother now and he had someone who loved him the way he was. He no longer had any wish to be a full demon or just a ningen.

"To keep others from collecting them," Miroku said. His quest to kill Naraku and to take revenge for his father and his father's father's death had been completed, but he didn't like the idea of another demon thinking that they could gain that kind of power with the shards and maybe become more of a threat than Naraku was.

"Miroku's right. I would feel better leading my new clan if I knew that we won't going to meet up with something in possession of one or a number of jewel shards. The birds of paradise and Kagura have brought them enough bad memories," Sango said. Now that they had defeated Naraku, she could finally start living her life again. She could mate with Kouga and live with him in her new home, and have a few babies of her own.

Babies or Cubs, she had yet to decide. They would be their flesh and blood either way. She remembered how Kouga told her that she would get a tail, but the part about living longer with him was what she liked the most about 'the turning'. The decision would just be about her. Everything and everyone else would work out either way Sango believed.

"Why do you want to restore the jewel?" Sesshomaru asked Kagome.

"I broke it in the first place," she started. "And I really don't want another Naraku to show up because of something I did," she said as she hung her head.

"I will help you," Sesshomaru said. If anything, he was doing this to protect her. She was going be his mate and he had to protect her, and if that meant helping her collect jewel shards for a few months or a year or two years, then so be it.

"Are we all going to stay together and look for more shards?" Shippo asked the group. It sounded like they were going to stay together, he thought but no one looked happy to him. He liked how the group was now and wasn't in any hurry to have it change again. Everyone looked at everyone else.

"We don't know yet," Sango said. She loved her friends, but she loved Kouga too. "Let's get going, I want to send a message to Kouga and okāsan," she said as she stood up. No one voiced anything against what she said as they got up also.

They cleared the camp site and made their way back to the brothers' home. They didn't see the hut as often as they use to. They mostly use it as a meeting place for when Kagome came back from her trips home mostly now.

During the trek back Sango, Inuyasha and Miroku would wonder away when they made camp for the night. Sango had to think about what she would do now that Naraku was gone, which was close to what Inuyasha and Miroku talked about also, but she had the additional worry of what became of her brother. She hadn't come across him in months. For all she knew Naraku had killed him to get the shard back long ago. As the tears silently ran down her cheeks as she cried for him, she reminded herself that she wasn't alone. Kouga was hers and they would soon become a family.

Sango was taking longer in finding answers to her questions since she was doing it alone, but Miroku and Inuyasha didn't have all their answers either by the time they reached the house. After two days at a steady walking pace and a full day of flying, they made it there after noon on the fourth day.

Sango went right to the library and wrote up a note for Kouga before she went to her room. She had Amaya wait for her after she greeted them back so she could get the message sent as soon as possible.

Sesshomaru had walked Kagome to her room and was now having a hard time not going too far as he kissed her lips and his hands moved across her back holding her close as she kissed him back. He couldn't kiss her when everyone else was around, but knowing that he might not be able to stop once he got started kept him from doing anything more than a hug or holding her hand most of the time.

This time the contact was something she started and he had to stop it before he went too far and ended up hurting her. He started to pull her hands from around him, but she sneaked them inside his kimono to hold him close again and he pulled back in shock as her warm finger tips touched his heated skin.

It was slightly absurd that he was running from bedding the one he was going to mate, but he really didn't want to hurt her. He had to ask Masami-sama if there was anything that could be done or used so that they could be together before he took her and regretted it. He stepped closer to her and he held her arms to her side as he kissed her forehead.

"Later," he said as he looked down into her eyes. He then left her room and the house in search of Masami-sama. He knew that this time he would have to tell her everything to get the help he needed.

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_DARN!_ I almost shouted out loud once he left the my room. I wanted him to stay. I wanted him to keep kissing me. _I wanted … more._ I walked over to my bed and sat on it before falling backwards. I looked up at the ceiling and I once again fantasized that it was the two of us up there.

Then I saw his eyes as they looked a minute ago. _Why did he almost look … scared? He can't think that __he would hurt me that badly does he?_ I guess he really thinks that from how he acts when we touch for a long time. _When did I start to care that he wouldn't go further than kissing me? _I turned over and crawled unto the bed some more. I felt the blush as it quickly covered my face as I thought of him holding me in his arms as we kissed. I squealed into the pillow as my heart started to pound faster.

My mood started to sober up. _This can't last three years. I know what he said about being able to wait three years to be with me, but could he really wait that long and still want me? _I started biting my nails then stopped. _It was a bad thing to do that to them._ I looked down at the one nail that the comment and after thought were too late for.

_Get off the bed Kagome. You need to take a bath before taking a nap._ I pulled myself up and pushed my hair back and behind both my ears. _Ok, _I told myself and then proceeded to slide off the bed and walk towards the bath.

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_Oohhhh yeeessss _I said in my head as my mouth gaped open into the bed below me. I tried to keep my hips still but they wanted to move. Inuyasha ended up having to hold them in place without any help from me. I missed feeling this. I loved his tongue when he did this to me.

I grabbed my penis and stoked it as he brought me closer to coming. I was breathing hard as he took his mouth away from a hole that missed him instantly.

"Stop doing that," he said as he pulled my hand away from my aching member.

"Why?" I asked him slightly short of breath. "I'm so close to coming," I told him.

"If you want to come, ask me to fuck you," he told me as his hand took over for mine as he pressed his face against the side of my hip. He would now and then move his head to slide his lips and tongue across the back of my thighs and ass as his hand played with just the head of my cock. His claws sent shivers through me every time he circled the opening there.

"Ahhh," I moaned as his tongue come closer to where I wanted it to be.

"If you keep moaning like that, I won't wait for you to ask me," he said.

"Aaaahh," I moaned again as I gripped the sheets. He was licking round my entrance again. His hands found themselves back to holding my hips as my cock wept from the pleasure Inuyasha was sending through me.

"That's it," Inuyasha said as he started to pull my body back against his. I was positioned over his lap and an upright penis before I was slowly lowered down unto him. It was harder this way, so we went slowly with his entry. For the last bit of him, he let me fall under my own weight completely unto him.

"aaaaahhhhhh…" was the slow long moan that flowed from me as I raked and dug my own nails into his thighs from feeling him fully. It was warm and made me feel whole while erotically setting all my nerves on end.

With my knees folded on the bed I sat over and on him, as he faced the back of my neck from his sitting position. I was about to lean forward to hold his legs so I could grip something when I felt his hands move around my body and pulling me back against his chest. He kissed, sucked, and bit my back, my shoulders, my neck and upper arms as I slightly rocked over him. I was tight around him and I got tighter when I tried to pull up. So I titled my hips to have him hit that spot and just rub back and forth over it as he sat still beneath me raking his claws over my chest, nipples and belly.

"AH!" I exclaimed in surprised as I snapped my eyes open. One of his hands held and squeezed my penis tightly before he slowly pulled and slid over it. He was going as slow as I was moving over him. I took it as a hint and started to move a little faster with a few longer strokes, but I couldn't get very far off of him.

We both moaned and gasped and moaned louder. His hand caught up with how fast I was going and soon went past it, which left me trying to catch up. I leaned forward unto my palms and pulled us closer to a release. I knew he was close just before I came in his hand.

"AAAHHhh…" I screamed out as I felt his teeth sink into my back as he came also. I don't think it really hurt, but it kept my penis from going limp after I came. I felt his tongue as he licked his bite mark to help it heal. The even passes he made with his tongue were lugging my senses into a very clam place. He pushed me a bit further forward and went with me as I ended up kneeling on my hands on knees.

After he pulled out of me I fell forward unto the bed exhausted and very satisfied. Inuyasha pulled me onto my side to lay against his warm chest, stomach and thighs with him. I started to fall asleep with the feel of his tongue licking my back and neck with one of my hands laced with his.

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**Okāsan** – mother (in this chapter we mean Kouga's mother)


	44. Chapter 44

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Chapter 44

"I didn't expect to see you so soon Sesshomaru-sama," Masami-sama said as she entered the room. I looked up and nodded as she came closer.

"Masami-sama," I then said.

"Is your brother well?" she asked me as she sat on the other side of the table.

"Yes, he is well," I replied. _How do I start this? _I asked myself.

"Is this concerning that girl we talked about earlier?" Masami-sama then asked. I was very tempted to just tell her yes, but then how would I answer some of the other questions that would need to be answered?

"Yes it is," I told her. "But first something has to be understood." As I looked at Masami-sama I saw the interest in her green eyes as she looked back at me. "The girl is to be my mate, not Inuyasha's," I stated. I made it sound so certain, but she hasn't given me any clues that it wasn't going to happen.

When I told Kagome about having to wait three years to be mated because she was too young to easily mate with a full Inu-yōkai like myself, she appeared to have accepted it. She only raised her voice when I told her that I would understand if she didn't want to wait that long with ningen lives being so short.

'There is no way in heck I'm going to give up a guy I like, who actually likes me back.' She told me. I was a bit surprised by her outburst, but I was even more moved that she said that she liked me. It wasn't as good as hearing her say that she loved me, but it was something for us to work our way towards.

Masami-sama continued to look at me without saying anything. I waited a moment and still nothing. She was just waiting.

"I have come to find out if there was anything to be done so we could be together until she is old enough to be coupled with naturally," I told her when I realized that she was waiting for me to speak first.

"She has agreed to wait until she is twenty years of age to be mated with you my lord?" Masami-sama asked me.

"Yes," I informed her. She looked out the open doors with a thoughtful look in her eyes. I turned to the cup of tea that I hadn't touched and tasted it while I waited for her answer. I didn't taste anything sweet, just the inescapable bitterness that my anxiety was producing.

"Masami-sama," I said showing my impatience for an answer that wasn't forthcoming fast enough.

"I'm sorry Sesshomaru-sama," she said as she turned to face me once more. "This is something I will have to work on. For a number of reasons, this isn't a question I've had to answer before."

I looked at her. "I will give you one week to find an answer," I told her as I stood up. I looked down at her for a moment.

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama … ," Masami started to say as she stood. I didn't wait to hear what else she had to say and quickly left once again through her open doors. I had not gotten the answer I was looking for. Giving her a week was far longer than I was hoping to hold out for with Kagome's continuous presence at my side.

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**_Three years? I had to wait three years?_**

"**I can wait for you Kagome. Three years is a short space of time for me," he paused before turning his head away to look at something slightly to my left. "But I will understand if you didn't want to wait that long. Ningen lives are so short," he told me. He then continued by saying that I was free to find someone else. I felt insulted.**

"**No," I said as I stood up. I was angry that he would even say that to me. I don't cry over guys just to leave them when something odd comes up. My life has been odd for almost three years now thanks to that demon pulling me through that old well. I walked over and stood in front of Sesshomaru so I was certain he would see me.**

"**There is no way in heck I'm going to give up a guy I like, who actually likes me back," I told him. His face wasn't angry, or cold, just blank. I must have surprised him with what I said. **

"**So we wait?" he asked a little slowly.**

"**Yes," I smiled up at him. "We wait." _A kiss would be alright,_ I told myself as I drifted closer to him. His hands held my shoulders as he kissed me back.**

I slowly opened my eyes to find myself soaking in water. I was in my bath dreaming of the night when he told me about not able to mate with him for a few years.

_My tummy feels funny,_ I thought as I closed my eyes again. It's been happening more and more when I think of Sesshomaru, or when I'm around him for a long period of time. It's not so bad when I think of him like now, but it gets worst when we kiss_. I hope nothing is wrong with me_, was a thought that passed through my mind as my eyes drifted close and the feeling grew as I saw Sesshomaru kissing me again.

I moved my hand over my belly and it felt nice. I felt his hands as they moved over my back as we kissed, then I was watching his face as he moved away and the feeling in my tummy went away. I opened my eyes almost sadly and finished my bath. I put on my pajamas and crawled in between the sheets for a quick nap before dinner.

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"Oh, you dressed up too," Rin said as she stopped for a moment to look at Kagome with wide eyes. She smiled back at the little girl.

"Do I look alright Rin?" Kagome asked the little girl as she did a careful turn so Rin could see the whole kimono. Some light simmered and reflected unto her face as Kagome raised and lower her arms. Rin nodded as she looked on, showing that she believed that she looked very pretty indeed.

"You should hurry along if you are going to change," Kagome reminded Rin with a smile.

"Ok," she answered before walking past Kagome to then run down the hall.

"Yuri!" Rin called as she rounded a corner hopping her sometime baby sitter would be within earshot, so she could help her get redressed. Rin ran into her room to find Yuri cleaning it as she was once again going to shut for her.

"Yuri," she said. "I need your help getting dressed. Everyone dressed up for dinner tonight." Rin was unwrapping her obi as she walked into the room.

"So you want to wear one of your good kimonos too?" Yuri asked as she put away the cloths that she just picked up off of the floor.

"Yes," Rin answered.

"And what about Shippo? Is he coming back to change also?" the servant girl asked her.

"No," she answered as she started to pull off the main part of her dress. "He wore something new, so he's happy," she finished.

"Oh," Yuri commented. "So which one do you want to wear then?" she asked her as she opened Rin's wardrobe.

"I want to wear the yellow one with the blue berries and red birds on it," Rin answered as she stood before Yuri and her wardrobe ready to be redressed.

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I adjusted the folds and patted my obi, then touched my hair hoping that it was ok. I hadn't worn my hair up since I went to see the fireworks at the start of the year, and even then mama did it for me. Mama would be so happy to see me in this, and this New Year's she will. I just wanted Sesshomaru to see me in it first.

I opened the door and looked in smiling, I felt so happy. Sesshomaru almost smiled back at me. I saw it and I smiled even wider as I walked into the room.

As Sesshomaru stood looking at me, everyone else turned and looked also as I walked into the room. I had seen everyone else's new outfit, but I had declined to wear mine when I got it, saying that I wanted to save it for a really special occasion. I think that this was most definitely a really special occasion.

Inuyasha looked rather good tonight too. His hair shone more than I had ever seen it. One of the servant girls must have taken a long time brushing it to have it shine like that. He wore an identical outfit of what could be called Sesshomaru signature outfit but with a reversal of colors, swapping red for white and white for red. While tonight Sesshomaru glowed in yellow and gold with accent white to pick up on his hair color. Miroku was in something of an alteration of his normal robes. It used the same purple and black colors that we were use to seeing him in, but it wasn't wrapped or tied the same. I believed it showed off more of his shape.

Sango almost didn't look like herself dressed in copper, red, and white with blue petals falling in places. Her hair was very simply done along with her kimono. It was the design of the pattern that was so breath taking along with its colors. I wasn't able to see Shippo until I was about to sit down, he also wore something new. It was cut in the same way as his other clothes but they were newly made and in very different colors. I gave him a smile as I said good night to everyone.

When Rin came back shining in her yellow kimono dinner was started. We had a few extra plates tonight which made the portions a little smaller so we got a taste of everything before filling up. Two kinds of fish, two kinds of tofu, rice, string beans, pickled eggplant, soup and three other kinds of vegetables dishes. Some fried, some boiled, something else that might have been pickled also but mixed with some kind of wheat noodle. To wash down the great meal one jug of sake was brought out along with the berry tea to my delight. We didn't have it the last time we were here, and Sesshomaru said that the season for the berries would be gone soon when I brought up that I missed the tea at dinner.

I almost said something when Inuyasha let Shippo stick his finger into his cup of sake, but he then made one of the loudest gagging sounds that I had ever heard. I was relieved to see that he wasn't really choking, just surprised by the taste. Everyone laughed as he swore off ever drinking the stuff again. As I looked at Sesshomaru, I saw laughter in his eyes and his mouth wasn't set in such a hard line. He was having fun too.

I think I had too much sake even though I made sure to mix it with the berry tea before drinking it. I should have had only one cup of the mixed drink since I never drank sake before. But no, I had to have three cups of it.

Soon I found myself saying good night to everyone and giving Shippo and Rin a hug before they left the room. I looked around and saw that only Sesshomaru and I were left, which was odd. Normally he was the first to leave after the meal. I stood as I tried to tell myself that I wasn't dizzy and that it would be a good idea to walk around one of the smaller gardens before going to my room or getting a book to read. _I didn't feel like studying tonight._

My skin tingled as I felt Sesshomaru's hand as it covered mine.

"Where are you going Kagome?" he asked me. I don't think he talked to me throughout the whole meal. I smiled as I looked down at him

"I was going to go and walk around one of the gardens," I told him as I stood there with my hands pressed unto the table.

"I will walk with you," he said as he stood and held my hand as he walked with me towards the door. I tried to go out first but I bumped into the door frame. I was grateful for the strong hands that stopped me as I bounced backward.

"Ouch, that hurt," I said quietly as I rubbed my arm.

"Do you still want to go to the garden?" he asked after a moment of holding me.

"Yes," I told him. "I just want to clear my head a bit before going to bed," I finished as he turned me to face him, placing my back to the open door. I felt his arms as they slowly went around my waist and pulled me closer. I started to pull him closer also as his face came closer to mine. Both my arms were around his neck and brushing against his tail as I pulled myself one berry tea breath closer to kissing him, with my feet dangling off the floor, before I felt movement and then space around me. I touched his lips with mine as I heard a cricket chirp to another one nearby that answered immediately.

He kissed me back and my body felt like it was slowly catching on fire. It was a little scary, but for some reason I liked it. I pulled back from Sesshomaru and his lips to look into his face. When he opened his eyes to look at me, I saw that they weren't clear gold anymore. They were like hot honey as he gazed at me.

"Can we sit down?" I asked him as my lips filled with heat. It took him a moment to move and I soon found myself sitting on his thighs. My arms were still around his neck when I slid down further into his lap. _He must have sat on a low bench for us to get wedged like this_. I couldn't look at him as a blush spread across my face at being so close to him, but I didn't want to give it up the closeness either. I looked to my left as I tried to make the blush go away or at least until I felt like I could look at him without fainting. When I felt his hands gliding over my back and legs, that were under my kimono, I lost what little interest I had developed for the garden around us.

"When I heard that you picked this sliver pattern for your kimono I didn't think that it was a good choice, but seeing you in it and out here, you simply shine," Sesshomaru told me as his face came closer and kissed my neck.

I closed my eyes again as I leaned into him and held his head in my hands. His fangs and teeth grazed my skin a few times which sent waves of heat through me. Each time my fingers became more and more lost in the sea of his white hair. His hand at my back moved upward until it touched skin.

I had remembered feeling his eyes on me as I combed my hair when I saw the sketch for this kimono in the design book. I knew he found something interesting about me and thought it was my neck. So I picked this one with a low looping neck line. As his fingers slid across my skin, around my throat and along my neck, I became convinced that I made a good choice.

His other hand helped the fabric over my legs to slide out of the way, leaving my left leg mostly open to the cool night air, but his hand was there to keep me warm. _There_ _is nothing wrong with touching_, I told myself as he kissed his way up to my jaw and his hand on my thigh held me close. He crushed my breasts to his chest and I felt every breath we both took as we experienced this moment from our own end of it. Soon his lips were on mine again and I was trying to give back as much as I wanted to receive, but it felt so good to just take that I don't think I did that good of a job of kissing back. As I felt myself sinking into this feeling I moaned into his mouth and I wanted more.

When he moved back down my neck again, I took it as a moment to catch my breath but inhaled quickly instead. I felt his tongue moving down over my right breast.

"Sesshomaru," I breathed as bells started to go off in my head. I held on tighter as his wet tongue moved around a nipple and another moan that I couldn't stop, came out of my mouth as something started to spin around in my tummy.

"Sesshomaru," I said louder. My eyes were wide and looking into the night sky when he stopped. I heard a low growling sound and I was aware that it was coming from him, but my mind was more concerned with the bells that were still ringing in my head.

My heart was beating loudly in my ears as I felt his hand moving along my leg before my kimono was laid over it. The growling slowly went away and I eased the hold I had on his hair and head. I lowered my eyes and looked at his white hair as he attempted to soothe me. I was already calm, but I thought that it was more for him than it was for me. He didn't offer me any soft words as his hand moved down from the hair line at the top of my neck to where his fingers would meet my collar lower on my back before lifting his hand to do it again. He did this three times before I felt like looking into his face again.

I slid my hands to the side of his face and held his cheeks that felt stronger somehow.

"Don't look at me," Sesshomaru said with a thick voice.

"Why?" I asked him in puzzlement.

"I don't want you to see," he answered a little clearer.

"See what?" I asked him as the words formed in my head at the same time.

His frame tensed and I was pulled closer to his body. This time I saw the move. By the time we were standing in front of my door, I was just recalling seeing the stairs before we went up them. I was closer to eye level with him now, but he turned his face away from me when I looked in his direction.

"Open the door," he told me. I really wanted to see his face and I didn't understand why he wouldn't let me. "Please," he added after a moment.

I opened the door and he carried me towards the bed. The room was dark and I didn't know why. I had left some candles burning before I went down stairs. Then I saw the open window with the curtains flowing on either side and understood. There was one candle that had managed to hold onto its flame, but it didn't provide any real light for the path he was taking.

He sat me down on the bed with my feet touching the floor. I saw his body as he lowered himself to kneel before me. I placed my hands palm down unto the bed as I felt his hands as they followed the cleavage of my kimono down from the shoulders, pulling them together as he moved closer to my obi. He only made one small growl before he placed his hand on my waist.

He lowered his head to my lap as his arms went around my waist pulling himself closer to me.

"I do not want to hurt you Kagome, but your scent tells me to make you mine," he said. I hadn't seen his face as he knelt in front of me, just his clothed body and shining hair, so I asked him.

"Why won't you let me see your face?" I asked him as I ran a hand over his hair.

"I almost took you. I almost hurt you because I wanted you so badly," he said at first. Then he was quite for a while. _Did he just realize that I spoke? _"More of my yōkai traits are showed when … I'm aroused and I did not want to scare you anymore more than you already were," he finally explained. I stopped moving my hand and laid it on the top of his head.

"Can I see your face now?" I asked him. I don't know why I was pushing to see his face, but I felt like I would feel better if I did and I think I wanted him to see that I was alright. His movements were very slow compared to how fast I knew he could move. When he finally looked up into my face, I saw the changes.

His skin was a little paler and the markings on his face were deeper in color or so they appeared. His eyes were also a different color. This must be what his eyes came to look like, from what I saw before, with the red bleeding into them. I saw light red eyes, like blood mixed with a lot of water, looking back at me. _They must have been really dark red earlier when he told me not to look at him the first time._ The shape of his eyes seemed to have also changed, but I can't explain how.

I reached a hand up and slowly cupped one side of his face. He closed his eyes and leaned into it slightly.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but you haven't scared me in a long time," I told him with half a smile on my face. Sesshomaru opened his eyes and looked back at me. They were closer to dark yellow now.

"You sounded scared in the garden," he told me. For a moment I saw hurt move across his face.

"I wasn't scared of you. Just of what I didn't know," I told him. "You told me that you could hurt me if we went to bed together and I don't really believe that you could hurt me, but I don't know how you… do it and I didn't want to you be right." I placed my other hand on the other side of face and brought his head back to my lap. "In case you were right, I didn't want you to be mad at yourself for what happened. That is why I stopped you," I explained.

We were like that for a minute or two while he took in what I told him and I started to brush his hair with my hand again.

"I've asked Masami-sama for something, so that we could … be closer until you are old enough for us to couple without having to think about it," he started. "But she didn't have anything for us. So I gave her a week to find something." He paused for a moment. "You can continue to study in the library, but I won't be able to be there every night," he said. I didn't push by asking him why. I pushed a lot when I was younger and it only made things worst or gave me answers I didn't like.

"Ok," I simply answered him. I sat there enjoying his body heat as I thought about a few things. Firstly, I was going to close the window and light some candles when he left. Also, if I wasn't going to see much of him I might as well go home. I could spend more than a week at home now. If Masami-sama couldn't find anything then it wouldn't be such a bad idea to stay longer in my time and less time here so he wouldn't have time to think that he might hurt me. _I don't like that idea._ Not too long ago I was afraid that he would lose interest in me if we couldn't do anything for three years and now I was ready to run away? I couldn't do that and risk having him lose interest in me because I wasn't around anymore.

"Sesshomaru, how old was Inuyasha's mother when she mated with your father?" I asked him. I wanted to know more about her now that we seemed to be in the same boat.

"Twenty-six," he answered.

"Do you know if she was hurt?" I asked. As I said it I thought it was the dumbest question ever. _How would he know such a thing?_

"I heard the servants talking," he started to say before I could take the question back. "They said that she was sick for days, and that if he had tried to mark her, he might have killed her."

"Kill her?" I asked in astonishment. "I thought that demons mated with humans with few if any problems," I said and asked at the same time.

"Some do, but we aren't normal yōkai," he said as he lifted his face. His golden eyes searched my face for a moment. "We are Inu-yōkai and are among the strongest of all yōkai of equal age. Whereas lesser yōkai could mate with a ningen without problems, we would." He looked at my hand that was laying on my lap before standing. I reached out and held his robe to keep him from leaving.

"I'm telling you first so you understand," I started. "I'm going home for a few weeks after the week you gave Masami-sama is up. We don't have to fight Naroku anymore, and I want to spend some time with my family. I'm not doing this to get away from you." I waited to hear what he had to say.

"Would you stay longer if Masami-sama is able to find something?" Sesshomaru asked with his back to me.

"I could," I said. "They don't expect me back for two more weeks. I just wanted to get a jump start on some down time from fighting Naroku and catch up with school, my friends, and my family," I told him again. I really didn't want him to think that I was running away.

"Do you want me to take you home?" he asked. He did misunderstand. _I'm going to have to get him to understand that he's wrong before I left._

"Of course," I told him as I let go of his robe. He turned back around and looked down into my eyes as he stepped closer. He reached out and tilted my head so he could kiss my forehead. _He must think that he had enough control to touch me again if he dared to kiss me again tonight. _

"I love you Sesshomaru," I told him. I don't think that I've told him before, but I felt like telling him now, and I knew it was true. He breathed in deeply and exhaled causing the hair round my face to flutter.

"I think I love you too Kagome," he said before I felt the movement of air around my body. I opened my eyes and knew he was no longer in the room. When I looked to the source of the only real light in the room, I saw him in the doorway looking back at me. He waited for my eyes to find him standing over there before he closed the door leaving me with the fainter light that came from the rising moon.

* * *

I had some issues/problems writing this chapter. This is where you really see Kagome start to change and grow and she knows it. I had a bit of it here and there on the way to this chapter, but this is where it starts to hit me, and I'm the one writing it.

I've have never had to write about someone changing from one mental state to another that is dictated by their age, but I seem to be doing a lot of that in this story.

Sess also opens up a bit more here too. He's process, what ever it concerns, is one that you will see surprising bits of in the chapters to come.

So after 8 ½ pages do you have any comments? :)


	45. Chapter 45

Chapter 45

I sat in the Dojo and watched a rare sight. Inuyasha was taking a poison controlling class from a snake demon. He was nowhere close to controlling his newly found ability and currently it wasn't an ability that stayed in his possession. He would have it off and on in the space of a week then it would be gone anywhere from a day to a week. Then it would be the other way around for a while.

My body was starting to bear evidence of the mornings when the ability came back without his knowledge and surprised us both. Today was a planed day for the class and the ability came back this morning. If it hadn't then the class would have had a different lesson plan. He would have been going through exercises on how to bring the ability out when he wanted it, rather than learning to keep it in so he didn't hurt anyone without wanting to.

I sat with my back against a wall as I thought about meditating now that I had a relatively quiet moment to do it in. These past few days were starting to feel like the first week Inuyasha and I got together, without all the awkward moments. On days when Sesshomaru wasn't at home to have breakfast with us, we would eat in our room when recovering from a long night of making love or just all out sex. To get some fresh air we would walk or lay about in the gardens which would turn into long kissing moments that would make us go back to our bedroom before we were caught, when we didn't want to stop. We have only had one sparing match in the last five days, and that took some convincing on my part for him to say yes when all he could think about was when he hurt me.

We realized that if he didn't wake up with the ability it wasn't going to show up for the rest of the day. So when he woke up with normal claws the next day, we had our match. Rin and Shippo watched along with Sango.

Sango left this morning. She wanted to spend time with Kouga and her to-be new clan as much as possible when she found out that Kagome was going home for a few weeks. She said that she would be back before Kagome so that we could make a decision about what to do now that we didn't have to worry about Naroku.

Everyone thought that Kouga would be there also; at least I did and said as much as the three of us waited for Sango as she packed her things upstairs. Kouga told us that he was going to leave the decision up to Sango. He said that it was something for her to choose on her own and that he would support her no matter what she decided. She showed up carrying her furoshiki as Kouga finished his last statement. Then to change the mood that descended on the room, he joked that with the three weeks they would be spending together, they may have a naming ceremony before a mating one. That earned him a jab from Sango and smiles from the Inuyasha and me.

I now closed my eyes and tried to meditate after a few moments. First my thoughts wondered to Kagome and Sesshomaru. I was feeling uneasy at what I was seeing lately. A week ago they were sleeping side by side. Now he seems to avoid touching her, which didn't appear to stop her from trying to touch him. Once in a while he would hold her hand in return, but at times he would leave the room completely.

I asked Inuyasha one night while we were laying in bed waiting for sleep to come, if he knew why Sesshomaru looked to be avoiding Kagome at times. He said that he didn't know and that we would just have to wait to find out what was going on because he wasn't going to ask either one of them what the problem was.

My mind wondered again and I started to think about a visiting ambassador that came from a neighboring land to speak with Sesshomaru, before we defeated Naroku, along his daughter who seemed inclined to learn her father's business.

She appeared to have had eyes for Inuyasha and it also seemed like she didn't care to hide that fact either. I had to rescue him on more than one occasion while they stayed here for three days. There was only one time when I couldn't help Inuyasha and that was when Sesshomaru asked him to take part in the meeting to learn a few things.

I personally never had the pleasure of telling her that he was mine, but I did hear him tell her. Her only answer to that was, until he marked me as his own and vice versa, she was going to aim for his affections also. She added that it was a shame to waste good Inu-yōkai blood on a human male. I saw that he wanted to hit her and I stepped in at that point with an excuse for him not to.

I didn't quite understand what she meant until later that night. She was talking about having kids that carried on his blood line. I was upset about it for a few days until Inuyasha saw me almost walk into a tree and talked to me. He made a rather bad joke at the time, but it cheered me up. He then held my hands as he tried to make two points. One, Kagome and Sesshomaru were going to have kids so he wasn't killing off the line by being with me and two, if he really wanted or I really wanted a child to take care of, there were orphans that we passed or left behind in villages we saved or helped during our travels. One could be our ward like Rin was for Sesshomaru.

'Besides, it's better for a monk to adopt a child rather than have one right?' This was something that Inuyasha asked me. His question had some merit until I pointed out that my father and grandfather were both monks.

_Enough of this, I_'_m suppose to be meditating._ I told myself as I got rid of everything that was crowding my mind. Eventually it was emptied and there was the darkness. A spark came forth and shone brightly on its own. It rose and hovered in the void. It grew brighter before growing arms, legs and something to serve as a head. The light moved out to each finger tip, down to each toe and up to wrap around the inside of the head. A heart was formed in the impression of a chest. I listened to it as it began to match the rhythm of my own and soon replaced it. I felt the energy moving to all parts of me. I slowed my heart, which slowed my breathing, which placed my body into a state of rest as it continued to be filled with energy and strength.

I thought of nothing. I didn't seek any questions or their answers. I felt and heard sounds as they moved through me as if I wasn't there. The snake sensei's words were just words that reinforced my current state. Inuyasha's irritated low growl was just the current that stimulated the other sounds past me. I heard the walls moving as the house breathed around me. I felt the energy from those on the other side. Information of them were known but not noted. Females, servants, one older than the other. They talked, they whispered. One tingled with a changed aura. Against my wish I noticed the female and then concentrated on them as they stopped walking but continued to talk.

"Are you really ok? You look a little pale today," the older one told the younger one.

"Yes, I'm fine Kayo," the younger one said in her defense. "I just had a long night."

"A long night doing what? I'm starting not to care for Masami-sama if she is misusing you," Kayo told the younger girl.

"How do you know that she is doing something bad to me? Besides," the girl paused. "I asked if I could help her with this when I learned what she was doing." I heard feet shuffle and the movement of clothes, but they stayed in the same place.

"You asked for this? What did you get yourself into Mai?" Kayo sounded worried. She would have been even more worried if she could sense the weak demon energy coming from her friend. "What is she doing?" Kayo asked Mai.

"I can't tell you, but it will serve your master," Mai told her. I took that to be the end of their conversation and waited to hear them move off.

"You were the one who got me the job at Masami-sama's house, telling her how I picked up on things quickly. And you stood by me when I told my family who I was in love with, saying that I could have done worst despite what everyone else said. You yourself have told me that I was a bright girl when I used what I learned from Masami-sama to help you and your family out as my way of thanking you for taking me in and getting that job. Why can't you trust my judgment now?" The girl had a good argument I thought.

"Alright, alright, I'll trust you. But that won't stop me from worrying about you," Kayo told her as I heard them starting to walk away.

With the human tainted aura gone, I found it easier to once again ignore the world around me as it presented itself to my mind in bits and pieces and disconnected words. When the light shone equally bright from all parts of the body it started to grow, and soon it over laid itself unto my form, committing the energy to this body. I breathed deeply, filling my lungs as I woke the rest of my body from the sleep it was in. I looked ahead as the rest of me communicated that they were refreshed and that it was a good mediation. I blinked and started to look around for Inuyasha and the sensei. I saw as they now moved in opposite directions. Inuyasha was walking towards me while the sensei left the room.

"Are you finished?" I asked him when he got closer.

"Yah," he said as he sat down next to me and then laid down on the floor. "Were you meditating the whole time?" he asked me.

"Sorry, I needed to," I told him.

"No need to apologize. I just don't know how you can do it. He was bugging me the whole time I was doing it, telling me to be still," Inuyasha griped. "I was being still. I can't help that my ears move when I hear something."

"Well I didn't stay completely focused today either. I was pulled out of my meditation by something odd," I confessed to him.

"Odd how?" he asked as he pulled himself to be propped up on his elbows.

"I believe that a girl with an aura tainted with demon energy visited the house earlier," I explained.

"You didn't think she was a treat?" Inuyasha asked with a show of interest.

"No, she seemed fine, normal even despite her aura. Maybe she just picked it up from working at Masami-sama's," I told him.

"That can happen from working with a demon healer?" Inuyasha asked me as he laid back down.

"Well some people do change a bit when they work with a healer that uses spiritual energy to help heal, and if the healer is a demon I guess it could happen with them too," I said thoughtfully. "I've never met a demon healer before."

"Do you want to?" Inuyasha asked me.

"Ha?" I asked back.

"Masami-sama. I was going to see her after Kagome left. If you wouldn't mind, I would like you to come with me," he finished. He was looking right at me as he said it. I remembered how he use to hide his face a little when talking to me about something that could be thought of as embarrassing, but not anymore it seems.

"Sure I'll go with you," I said smiling back at him. I loved being included in someone else's life, but most especially his. I looked up at the door as I reached out to lean over him. "I love you," I whispered before kissing him soundly.

**Knock, knock.**

I pulled away just as I was starting to sink down unto his body. I even tried to move back a bit before he answered the door, but he held my hand to keep me from moving.

"Come in," he said to the door as he released me hand.

"Inuyasha-sama, lunch will be ready in an hour's time," Amaya said once she was just inside the Dojo. Inuyasha sat up and turned to look at her.

"Is Sesshomaru-sama going to be home for lunch today?" he asked as my eyes wondered to looking at his back.

"No my lord, he said that he would be gone for the whole day. Would you care to have lunch in your room instead my lord?" she asked. Inuyasha flexed his back muscles like he felt an itch and tried to stop it without using his fingers. I looked away before deciding to stand.

"No, we'll have lunch in the dining room," he told her. "But we will be having dinner in our room tonight," he added as I stood bushing off my robes. I started to walk towards the door when I was finished and smiled at Amaya as I got closer.

"Will that be all, my lord?" she asked.

"Yes, Amaya, thank you," Inuyasha told her as I drew closer to the door.

"Amaya-chan, do you know a girl by the name of Mai?" I asked her. She looked a bit puzzled for a moment before lowering her face.

"Yes Miroku-sama, she is a young girl living with one of the women from the kitchen," she answered.

"Is it true that she works for Masmai-sama?" I then asked her. I'm sure Inuyasha was finding this all very interesting, but I didn't look back to confirm this.

"Yes Miroku-sama. She's been there two summers now," she stated.

"Thank you Amaya-chan," I said smiling at her. She looked up before bowing again and backing out of the room. She closed the door and I waited until I couldn't hear or sense her anymore before locking it and turning to look at Inuyasha.

"The girl with the tainted aura is this Mai?" he asked me as I walked back to his side.

"Yes," I told him before sitting down.

"You forgot to ask the name of the lady she was staying with," he told me.

"No, I didn't forget. I already know her name. It's Kayo," I told him.

"Why are you even trying to find her?" Inuyasha asked me.

"I'm just curious about something she said," I explained. "She said that she was doing something for the master of the house. I know she doesn't mean you, so… like I said. I'm just curious," I said before smiling at him. I then moved in a bit closer, watching as his eyes as they started to darken. "Let's talk about something else," I suggested as I kissed him.

"You were planning on talking?" he asked me as I kissed my way down to his chest. "Mmumm," he moaned as I circled the first nipple I came to. I pulled it up with my lips and let it go to have it spring back down to his chest before I caught it again. I felt his hand as it buried itself in my hair to hold my head. This time I used my teeth to hold him as I pulled up. Slowly I opened my jaws to let him slowly be pulled out and between my teeth.

As I moved over to the other side of his chest, my other hand moved down his side and into the side opening of his hakama where I felt for his hardening cock that was trapped under his fundoshi. I helped it out but it stayed in his hakama for the first few stokes so I could it to rub the head of his cock against the material while my fingers moved up and down its length.

I heard his breathing as he sucked air in and huffed it back out. I felt his chest rise and fall below my chin before I looked at his face. When I felt him grow again in my hand I let him go and I moved my face further down his body as I let pulled his hakama down enough to free him.

My mouth covered him in one hot breath and I felt him hold back from coming. As much as I wanted, I could never fit all of him in my mouth. I pressed my tongue up to the underside of his penis as I moved my mouth over what I could. One hand moved up and down the rest of his cock while the other played with his balls. I was pushing sensations through him to have him come quickly, so we would be in time for lunch. I'm enjoying myself too, but now was not the time for me to prolong this, we just didn't have the time. I pulled up and sucked on the head of his manhood as my hand moved up and down the long length of him.

I had forgotten how to do most of these things until my relationship with Inuyasha started and now his strong language and pants and half swallowed cries accompanied by his moans caused me to think of ways to make him want me more. This caused a nice effect of me wanting him, from him wanting me, and the higher I took it, the more I needed him also.

I felt his leg start to shake and I circled the tip of my tongue around his head up until I poked it into that sweet little hole, knowing that what I wanted to taste was going to come out there soon. I wanted to feel it filling my mouth and sliding down my throat as I swallowed. I slid my mouth back down covering his cock again. I moaned with anticipation, knowing that it would send his nerves shaking in lust. Up, down, up, down, up again to have his hand press me down as he got bigger in my mouth. I pressed my hands to the floor as I sucked and swallowed as he jerked and came into my mouth. I didn't let a drop fall to stain his hakama as I raised my head to look down at my lover. I may have just ruined my appetite, but I'll deal with that later.

I slide along his body and held myself up over his heaving chest as I watched him with his eyes closed, a sheen of sweat on his brow and his ears lazily swinging on the top of his head. His tongue came out of his hot mouth and wet his lips as his eyes opened. They were still dark. _Maybe it_'_s a good thing that I wouldn_'_t be eating much_, I told myself. Inuyasha reached his hand up for me and pulled me by my hair down to kiss him. I kissed back with as much sexual hunger as I felt for him, but I then started to pull back turning it into a reversal of our normal kisses to have it end as nothing more than the soft pressing of our lips. It wouldn't do to get him worked up now after all I did to make sure he stayed clean.

I stood first and held my hand out to him. He took it with a smile as he stood up in front of me. He sneaked in one more kiss before I made my way over the buckets of water ahead of him. I first cupped some water with my hands and swished it around my mouth before taking a rag and wiping my face. Inuyasha soon stood next to me as he too wiped down his face, then his neck, his shoulders, his arms, his chest and lastly his stomach.

_Damn, I might be able to eat at all_, I thought as I felt my heart beat pick back up. I rinsed the rag and placed it over my face. I thought about swallowing what was in my mouth but I changed my mind and took the rag off my face to look for the spit bucket. It was under the bench that held the larger buckets of water. I quickly spit out what was in my mouth before the urge to swallow came back. I felt him press up at against my back as I stood up. _So warm. _It wasn't helping my resolve that he was radiating heat that didn't want me to leave him to do something else.

"Ready to go?" he asked with his mouth very close to my ear.

"If you don't touch me until after lunch, I'll love you for the rest of my life," I told him before biting my lower lip.

"You will love me anyway," Inuyasha told me before stepping back. "But I'll keep my distance for now."

I turned around and looked at him. _Cocky_.

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**Furoshiki** – Carrying Cloth. That blue and white cloth that Sango walks around with on her back.


	46. Chapter 46

I own nothing but my 'sick little ideas'. I would never be cleaver enough to come up with a girl going through a well to 500 years in the pass and meeting up with demons and a magical jewel. I'm too grounded for that.

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Chapter 46

"Dai, are you there?" Mai asked a rustling bush. Black eyes in a green face flashed at her as the creature stepped out into the light provided my Masami's household torches.

"Yes, Mai," he said as he got closer. A habi-yōkai stood before the girl on legs that changed into a merged body and tail before coming closer. "Sorry I'm late. I had some extra chores to do for my master before I was allowed to leave," he told her before they kissed. He pulled her closer enjoying holding her after thinking about her for the whole day.

"It's alright I wasn't waiting long," Mai told him when they pulled part. "Let's go," she said with a smile. She held his hand as they moved towards the house where Masami's shadow now stretched out from the door way.

"Good night Dai," Masami said when they had gotten closer.

"Good night Masami-sama," the habi-yōkai answered. He still cowered in front of her, but he had gotten better at not showing it. His master held her in high regard and the fact that she was helping him and Mai humbled him.

Mai squeezed his hand as Masami turned away from them and walked into the house. They followed her inside and down a flight of stairs that lead to her lab and other rooms. They stopped at her lab first, where Mai watched as Masami took some of Dai's blood. It was a small cut that always healed a minute later. The two young ones stood where Masami left them as she mixed some of his blood with some other things.

"Mai," Masami called.

"Yes Masami-sama," Mai answered.

"Have you been eating the paste I gave you, like I instructed?" Masami asked her as she continued to make what she wanted with Dai's blood.

"Yes Masami-sama," she answered her. The red paste that Dai was given, was to be eaten at every meal and could be mixed with the food she ate, but only after the food was already cooked and not too hot. It was something to keep her from carrying a child at this time. They had to first receive permission from Dai's master before that could happen which went along with them being able to be mated to each other. Mai had already received Masami's permission.

Dai looked up and saw a toad on the other side of a small barred window. Its mouth and body looked like he was croaking but the young male couldn't hear anything. It reminded him that this level of the house was surrounded by a sound barrier. No sounds could leave and no sounds could enter. Something that was very handy for someone who wanted quite when creating medicine.

"This way," Masami said as she walked out of the room. Mai and Dai hurried to catch up with her. They stepped out into the hallway just in time to see her open the door to the last room on their right, two doors down. She stood waiting for them.

They walked into a room that had a bed that was big enough for three occupants, a table and three chairs, a scroll log with a brush, ink stone and ink. After they had stepped inside, Masami closed the door. It was more out of habit than need. Very few were allowed down there and at night no one should be there unless Masami brought them herself.

She walked over to the desk and put down a few things that she had brought from the other room. She unrolled the scroll to find her last entry. She sat and read it over while the others just stood in the room waiting for her. Masami then moved over to the blank adjoining area in the scroll when she was finished reading and started to write something.

"Mai, what time is it?" she asked the ningen girl. Mai let go of Dai's hand and walked over to a wall that had a streak of moon light on it. On its surface were scratched groves and labeled lines.

"It's eleven and three parts of a whole," Mai informed her mistress before moving back to Dai's side. Masami wrote this down before setting the bush aside. She stood and walked around the table. She paused to pick up one of the small bottles she had brought with her.

"Drink this," she told the girl as she held it out to her. Mai took it and proceeded to swallow all that the bottle contained. The taste wasn't any better than the others that she had taken, but it took longer this time for a dull ache to fill her head. "Let's see," Masami said as she got closer. She held the girl's face still as she looked into her brown eyes. They were starting to change color. She turned her face from side to side and then looked at her neck. Her skin color appeared to stay the same this time. She reached down for her hands and looked at her palms then her nails.

"How do you feel," she asked Mai as she turned her hands over to look at the back of them. The hair had receded enough to make her skin appear a shade lighter where her hair grew. Masami let go of her hands and moved back to sit behind the table again. She made a few brush stokes, thought about something then made some more before stopping and looking up at Mai.

"Oh, ah, ah, ahm" the girl stuttered. "Well my belly feels warm like before, but not as hot and it kind of feels like I'm being stretched a little. Nowhere as bad as last time," she finished.

"No head ache this time?" she was asked. Mai shook her head before answering.

"No Masami-sama," she said. "It's just a dull ache now that I can over look."

"Go stand by the wall," Masami told her as she continued to write. Dai watched his love as she walked over and stood next to another set of markings that went up the wall. He was once again moved by all she was she doing for him. He knew it would have been easier for her not to go through this and just find another ningen to be with. He even tried to make her leave him, but nothing he did work. He would either not be able to do what he planned to push her away, or she wouldn't believe him and show up again in a few days time.

Dai thought that after her family had found out about him, that they would keep her from seeing him and it would be over. Leaving him to deal with his broken heart over time, but two days later, there she was looking for him again. As they sat in the shade of a ginkgo tree, she told him how she was now staying with her friend Kayo and that she approved of him, more or less. He had even been dragged to her new home on more than one occasion. Once he kept his mostly human appearance going, he had a rather nice time.

He watched Mai as she walked back over to him and he could tell that she was taller and stood higher up on his tail so they could look into each other eyes when she came back to his side. Masami went back to her log and wrote some more. They laced their hands together and waited to be told what to do next.

"You may begin," Masami finally told them. They had gotten use to Masami being present and didn't hesitate as they began kissing each other and started to undress. Masami would now and again look up to see if the girl's appearance changed in any way.

Masami was grateful to have found these two to help with her research. Habi-yōkai were said to have a larger penis size the closer they were to their habi form, which caused most of them to learn how to stay in their human state when bedding a female not of their kind. For a younger habi like Dai, it was almost imposable to retain his human form at that time. That along with how young Mai was, being a child of only sixteen springs, made them the perfect pair for this.

There! _**Her skin flashed green. Whereas before it was always a complete color change of her skin's pigment. With this batch of the formula it is intermittent.**_ Masami noted this along with a side note. _**Future testing is needed to see if the color is linked with the demon whose blood was supplied for the formula.**_ With his loin cloth gone, Dai's manhood could easily be seen. It was like a snake itself as it moved of its own, seeming free will, to enter Mai.

The girl clutched the sheets and arched up as she was entered. Masami noted. _**First penetration always bears some pain, this is to be expected. Vaginal walls retain no memory or signs from previous occasions due to the healing properties of the demon's blood. Less**__**en**__**ing of the pain is expected as with other nights as the testing of different batches continues.**_

Dai's penis had been previously measured, so now Masami estimated how much was left by the time he had to stop pushing in. It seemed less was left outside this time. Masami wrote again. _**Ningen's mind may have become use to, or expected her body to take in more of the yōkai's**_ _**length and had **__**built on the formula to accomplish this. She is less transformed than before, but was able to accommodate more of his size. In the next sample of the formula I will try it without the recently added herb to see if that is the true cause of this unexpected development. **_Masami placed the brush down and left the room.

Dai and Mai continued their sexual act as passion raged through them. Mai's back was arched as Dai pumped in and out of her. Her legs were wrapped around the top part of his tail and his mouth was sucking on one of her nipples as his tongued curled around and squeezed her breast. He managed to come before she did, but he kept going until she pulled him still against her body as she spasmed around and under him sucking his cum further into her body. They fell unto the bed and he looked at her for a moment as her temporary green skin flashed in place of her naturally pink tinted one. Dai liked how that looked as it moved across her face. He reached out and pulled her face to his to kiss her lovingly. He knew that he could only kiss her at this time as he felt her starting to shrink in his arms. The shrinking wasn't much, it was a good deal less than last time, but it was still noticeable.

Dai got up and found the two towels for them to wrap themselves in as they waiting for Masami to come back with the new formula for them to test.

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With scroll in hand, Masami gave Mai the day off. The first stage of the formula was complete. All that was left now was to find out how much would be needed to have the effects last longer than half an hour. During the past few days she had learned a bit more then she expected and last night most of the pieces came together for the puzzle she was given to solve.

More willow bark had to be used to completely take away any symptoms of the dull ache in the ningen's head that came on from the change. Any less of the donor's blood, to take away the effect of her skin changing color, produced the unwanted effect of reducing her ability to heal quickly.

Spit could not be used as a substitute for blood. The effects start to wear off in the middle of intercourse. It was a wicked way to achieve an orgasm for either participant, but both parties had to stay still while another dose of the formula was given to the girl so that they could separate without her being pulled apart to die from internal bleeding.

That had caused them to push their testing time further into the dawn of the next day than they originally planned for that given night. The two demons could continue their daily work without thought of a missed night of sleep, but the ningen was ordered to bed by her mistress and to have the rest of that day off also.

Masami walked back into her home to prepare a letter for her errand boy. She wanted Lord Sesshomaru to receive the message with the start of his day. She wanted to seek some praise for her week long work from her interesting young lord.

"Kiyoshi," Masami called as she entered the house on the way to her sitting room.

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**Habi-yokai** - snake demon


	47. Chapter 47

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Chapter 47

"Good Rin-chan. Now do the kanji for 'tree'," Sadahiro Sensei said as she stood behind of Rin. She continued to stand to make sure that Rin did it in the correct stroke order. Sesshomaru had started her writing lessons not too long ago and she was still getting use to the feel of the brush between her fingers. Rin adjusted the wooden handle a few times after dipping it into the ink and once more before making her first stroke across the block she was now working in.

Three stokes later Rin was smiling down at what she had made, believing that she remembered it correctly.

"Correct Rin-chan," Sadahiro Sensei told her as she picked up the page. She looked over the ten kanji that she had to do from memory and appeared rather impressed.

**Knock, Knock.**

"Come," Sadahiro Sensei said to the door. Amaya opened the door and stepped in as everyone turned to look at her. She bowed to the room then looked around before bowing again in Kagome's direction.

"Sesshomaru-sama wishes to see you in the meeting room," she told a surprised looking Kagome.

"Oh, okay," Kagome answered. She closed her book and placed it on her seat as she stood to leave the room. Sensei and Rin watched Kagome as she left the room and Amaya as she closed the door behind both of them.

It was a short walk down the hall to the meeting room for Kagome these days, but today it seemed just as long as the first day she got there. She knew what today was, but that hadn't prepared her for the actual event.

Amaya knocked on the door before letting Kagome in. Kagome walked into the room to see Sesshomaru standing alongside a very pretty woman whose appearance gave no real clue as to her age.

"Sesshomaru-sama," Kagome said to greet Sesshomaru, before turning to look at the silent woman.

"Kagome, this is Masami-sama, the healer of this house for the past two generations. When my father met her she requested to be his healer after he paid her to see his future," Sesshomaru said as he pulled Kagome closer to his side.

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"Masami-sama, this is Kagome, she is my intended mate," Sesshomaru-sama said as he introduced me to this ningen. I looked at her more closely than I have felt the need to in centuries and saw almost nothing and the few glimpses I was shown, weren't enough to explain anything.

I felt her walking down the hallway and expected someone that looked a bit more impressive, but she looked like a somewhat normal ningen female and a young one at that. I already knew from what Sesshomaru-sama said that she was young and a ningen but it was a contradiction to what I was feeling from the creature that stood in front of me.

I bowed when she did, then we all sat down around a small table. I saw how he reacted to her, or tried not to react to her as the case may be. I could almost see him trying not to touch her as she sat inches from his fingers. Silence hung in the room as they waited for me to talk.

"I have good news my lord. I was able to create a formula that will allow both of you to be psychically closer," I said before producing a bottle slightly larger than the vials I used when conducting my experiments. I placed it on the table instead of handing it to anyone.

"This is not the completed formula. It lacks something," I stated. "I will need a few drops of Sesshomaru-sama's blood for this to work." I looked at the two of them as they revealed no signs of shock and only a small measure of interest from the girl.

"For this reason, I will have to insist that you do not use this more than ten times in a during the length of one moon," I directed at the ningen. "You are still growing Kagome-kyou and we shouldn't tamper with your body too much at this time," I ended upon seeing some fear enter her eyes. I don't know why, but that pleased me at the moment.

"What would it do to me?" she asked in a cautious voice.

"Your overall size should increase a little, this is to accommodate the enlarging of internal organs and once it wears off, you will return to yourself as you are now with no signs of what happened," I explained to her. Sesshomaru-sama was very fair skinned and I didn't feel a need to tell them about the slight skin color change. If they bring it up as a concern, I would explain it then. I stood and pulled a dagger out of my pocket along with a small cup.

"My lord, your hand please," I asked him as I held out my own. He reached forward and placed his hand palm up in mine. I proceeded to nick his finger and measure his blood in with the aid of the small cup I had laid on the table. I filled it to the line I had drawn in it and closed the cut with my finger when I had obtained the right amount. Three seconds later I removed it and the cut was gone.

"This is how much of Sesshomaru-sama's blood will be needed for this formula and this formula lasts for an hour's time," I told them as I poured his blood into the bottle and shook it. I then held it out to Kagome and waited for her to take it from me.

Her fingers touched mine and my other hand snapped out to hold her still at her life poured into my mind. I saw the life of someone else, another ningen female as she grew up, became a priestess and fell in love with Inuyasha-sama? There was a dark evil behind her that then turned against her for the Jewel Of Four Souls. It even tried to control Inuyasha-sama to get the jewel for itself, but he was shot with an arrow and was sealed to a tree. The creature's plan was ruined when the priestess told her sister to burn the jewel with her body, to keep it from falling into anyone's hands who would use it for evil, before dying from a curse that was place on her by Tsubaki, a rival miko.

There was heat as the body and jewel burned in one grave. Then there was darkness and the cold. Cold that was cold enough for even a demon to feel the frost on their bones. Light then came back to this vision. Life began all back over again in a strange new place. The child grew up, happy and well, until her fifteenth summer and the jewel separated from her flesh and lived in her chest.

She was in the wrong place, it was too soon after the jewel was formed that she walked to the well. The well that traveled, The Bone Eater's Well, the way the demon's bones were able to pull her backwards in time. _Time? _

I blinked as the walls of Sesshomaru-sama's meeting room came back into focus and I felt someone holding my wrists. I looked to my side to see Sesshomaru-sama holding my hands away from the ningen girl.

"I am well Sesshomaru-sama," I said after closing and opening my eyes again. He looked at me intently before releasing me. "I'm sorry for my actions Kagome-kyou," I said as I bowed to her.

I now understood why I felt what I did. She had power beyond her years and it was the same power that I sensed when Sesshomaru-sama took me to the tree that Inuyasha-sama had been sealed to for half a century. He wanted to know if Inuyasha-sama was being hurt, but didn't let me remove it once I told him it was nothing more than a strong sleeping spell.

"Ah. Okay," Kagome looked from me to Sesshomaru-sama then back to myself. "Thank you Masami-sama," she said. She held the bottle to her chest and I wondered how much it meant to her.

"Once the blood has been added it will be good for one day and you should shake it before drinking," I told them. I turned back to the table and picked up the dagger and cup and placed them back into my pocket as I prepared to leave.

"I will be back tomorrow to find out if there were any complications. Providing everything went well, I will have three new bottles for you. They can keep for months until you add blood to them," I said before bowing. "Sesshomaru-sama, Kagome-kyou," I waited until they had bowed before standing upright and leaving the room.

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I watched her as she sank back down onto her seat after Masami-sama left the room. I was more at a loss now of what to do than if Masami-sama had said that she couldn't help. I wasn't going to turn into a some sex crazed thing now that I knew we had a way to sleep with each other, but appearing too happy might give her that impression.

I walked over to the window to think of what my first words to her would be. I looked at her for a moment and our eyes met. I couldn't pull my eyes from her as she continued to look at me as she stood and walked in my direction.

"I've never done this before," she said while still holding the bottle to her chest. Her eyes didn't falter much these days, as they had done in the past and at this moment I saw a bit more backbone in her gaze.

"I haven't done this either," I confessed to her. A look of disbelief crossed her face. It took a minute for it dawn on me how she might have understood it. I reached out for her hand and held it against her chest as I explained. "I meant with a ningen."

The amount of relief in her face almost made me smile as I thought of holding her. I don't think that she looked this beautiful before I fell in love with her, but I also knew that she was always this beautiful because I fell in love with her. I came closer as I moved my face to hers and brushed our lips together before she kissed me.

"Tonight then?" she asked me as I pulled away. Her eyes once again looked hopeful as she tried to smile up at me. She was still a little nervous, but that is to be expected. I would have liked to put this off until she was calmer, but with my blood already added to the formula we only had one day to use it.

_Y__e__ah, right._ I told myself. _That's some excuse. We could just not take it. Let it go bad or whatever and do this later. Either when she is more calm, or at a time when it doesn't feel so forced. You can wait._

"Tonight will be up to you Kagome. If you really want to do it, you can tell me this evening when I come by your room to say good night," I told her as both my hands reached for her shoulders and I kissed her upturned forehead. _Mum. Her smell makes me think of what tonight could hold and the scent of nervousness is almost completely gone. _

"I'll be going back to keep Rin company during her lessons then. She's getting good at drawing her kanji," Kagome told me as she pulled away to turn towards the door. I saw her blushing face and thought that she was trying to hide that from me. I'll have to remind her that I like seeing her skin turn red like that.

"I should come by and see her progress," I told her as I walked her to the door.

"You can come now if you don't have anything to do," Kagome suggested while standing in the hallway and smiling at me. I thought about it, but not for long.

"I will come," I stated before closing the door behind of me.

**# ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ #**

**Kanji**- Between 5,000 and 10,000 Chinese characters used in written Japanese.

**Tsubaki** - A miko from the manga version of the story. She did place a curse or spell on Kikio that tied her to Inuyasha. In the manga that is how she died once she nailed Inuyasha to the tree.

**Kyou** - Lord, Lady, Dame. Of course I'm going for Lady here.


	48. Chapter 48

Required Disclaimer - I own nothing but my sick little ideas and the plot before you.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

* 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 = Means that it's the same POV just a shift in time.

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Chapter 48

The day moved on with a large amount of normalcy for just about everyone. The servants received no odd requests, or saw anyone behaving any odder than expected. Everyone was present and on time for lunch.

Rin and Shippo went to their history lesson that was read to them, like always, before running around and playing a number of games. Today, one of their games included climbing a tree. Kagome did some studying in the library with Sesshomaru sitting next to her in a happy silence as he looked over his own papers. Inuyasha and Miroku spent some time in the Dojo before going out into the largest of the gardens, where Inuyasha fell asleep to Miroku's reading. Miroku chanced a quick kiss before moving away to fall asleep himself in time.

Now it was dinner time and everyone was here again. Dinner was a simple meal of rice and fish with sweet and sour noodles. Not common, but not rare either. No one complained, not that anyone ever did and Inuyasha along with Shippo had seconds.

Rin talked Miroku into attending her writing lesson tomorrow, and then almost in the same breath she told him not to touch her teacher. She herself had never really seen that side of him. She just recalled all the stories that Sango, Kagome and Shippo told her of what happened when he was near a pretty woman.

Miroku burned red at that once true acquisition, Inuyasha choked on his noodles and Shippo laughed as he pointed at him as he coughed up what had gotten stuck in his throat.

"Rin," Kagome said in surprise. "Why would you say that?" she asked.

"You said that he does that when he sees a pretty lady and sensei is pretty," Rin answered her.

"I said he use to do that. He doesn't do that anymore," Kagome said looking from Rin to Miroku.

"Why haven't you?" she asked the monk.

"Hah? Me?" Miroku asked an inquiring Kagome with a slight cough. "I have my reasons," he answered after a moment. He avoided looking at Sesshomaru as he moved his gaze around the table. Miroku didn't want to think of what Sesshomaru-sama was thinking of him at the moment. His eyes stayed a little longer on Inuyasha. Hopefully he was the only one who picked up on it. Shippo didn't seem to care that much about the monk and the raised questions. After his little laugh, at Inuyasha's expense, he was back to eating his noodles and fish again.

"Hum," Kagome murmured before continuing her meal. Inuyasha then spoke up by saying that he was willing to have a small training match with Shippo to see if he was picking up anything in his combat classes. This got the young fox demon to look up from his bowl. He didn't know what to think or feel at first other than surprise. Then happiness crept in and he smiled back at Inuyasha when he asked what time.

Then Sesshomaru spoke and it wasn't even the end of the meal. He announced that he wouldn't be there for breakfast the next day and then when he got back, it would be before lunch to take Kagome home. He then stated, in his long announcement, that he wouldn't be back for a few days because he had to visit someone, somewhere.

This caused a few questions to spring into the minds of the older ones at the table. Miroku believed that he was going to follow Kagome through the well to see her family, but even that had him asking himself other questions.

Inuyasha wondered if this trip he was taking had something to with their lands, but then he was gratefully that he wasn't being told that he was to accompany him. It would be boring and he didn't think he would have done much good if it had to do with speaking to another great house.

Kagome had the most questions. What happened to their night? She figured the next day he would want to see Masami-sama, but what was that about her going home? Was he expecting her to say 'no' tonight? And where was he going for a few days? He had started to tell her most of what he did, especially if it took him away from home for a few days and he hadn't said anything about this.

Kagome added a little bit more to her bowl, intent on going through with what she had already decided and she wasn't going to let this little announcement worry her. She had no cause to be worried.

At the end of meal, everyone seem to split up in twos as they made their way to bed or outside for some night air before bed. Kagome and Sesshomaru parted in front of her door. He didn't tell her good night, but went to his room to take a bath, as she went inside to do the same.

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I paced in my room as I waited for him to come back. I walked out onto the balcony again, looked around and came back in after seeing that everything was still where they were from the last time I checked. I didn't know what I was suppose to wear so I wore what I always wore to go to bed. All were slightly newer then what I normally had. I had only gotten them on my last trip home. White panties with green strips and a peach colored pajama set.

I sat on the bed and looked at the door thinking that if he didn't come, I was going to walk out that door and …

**Knock, knock. **

I stood and soon heard the knocking again.

"Coming," I said as I remembered what to do and walked over to the door. When I opened it, there stood Sesshomaru with his back to a very brightly lit hallway looking down at me. He stood there with his tail lopped over his shoulder while dressed in one of his silk robes with bare feet.

"May I come in?" he asked and I blushed as I opened the door wider for him to step inside. He turned towards me once the door was closed and waited. I looked at him thinking how he could expect me to say no.

"Yes," I told him as I came closer to kiss him. He warped his arms around me and held me to his beating heart as we kissed before letting me go.

"Then we need more light," he said as he started walking around the room lighting most of my candles with a small fire whip from his fingers.

"I thought the room had to be a little dark," I told him quietly. Sesshomaru looked around a very lit room before coming back towards me.

"Perhaps, if it wasn't so new to you or me," he said before kissing me again. When he ended this latest kiss he held his forehead against my own. "You need to see. To clearly see what happens to me so you know," he said as he held me closer.

"Have you taken it yet?" he breathed next to my face as I felt something warm and soft slide up under the back of my shirt.

"No," I said before swallowing. "I was waiting for you to get here first," I told him. The soft thing had to be his tail and it was now going around my waist. I closed my eyes as I felt it move up towards my chest.

"Where is it?" I heard him ask.

"Where's what?" I asked him back. "Ah," I moaned as it swiped it way across my left breast before going back down to my waist again.

"Where is the formula Kagome?" he asked me in a sweet low voice. _The formula? I had it. I put it down somewhere. Where? _

"It's on the bed," I told him as I laid my hands on his chest to push myself away to go get it. Instead he held me closer and I felt the bed touch the side of by knee. We moved. I looked down to the bed and saw the little bottle with its dirty red contents shining back at me. I reached for it as I left his arms, keenly aware of his tail as it massaged my waist.

His hands reached out and held mine that held the bottle when I was standing in front of him again. He pulled them to his chest and kissed my forehead before letting me go. It was a sweet gesture, but unneeded. I shook the bottle three times before removing its cork and gave it one last look before closing my eyes as I swallowed it all. My eyes stayed closed as I felt him taking the empty bottle from my hand and putting it somewhere.

I felt cold at first, then every part of me got hotter. I reached out for Sesshomaru and he held me. My pajamas started to feel tighter as a dull ache started to pound in my head. The ache soon left, but now I was sure that my clothes were smaller. I heard Sesshomaru's heart beating and I wanted to touch it. I slid my hand over his chest and into his robe to settle over where I felt it trying to beat through his flesh. _Was he nervous or was this normal? _I pulled back as I open my eyes to look up into his face.

His skin glowed, he glowed. I looked around and my room had a glow to it also, even if it was with a dimmer light.

"Things look a bit different," I told him as I reached my hand up to touch his lips. They were there for a moment before he sucked one in and licked it. I almost pulled back but told myself not to.

"What do you see?" he asked as he let my finger fall from his mouth.

"You, your skin is glowing," I told him as I felt that soft part of him wrap around my leg as it now moved higher up my pajama leg. I moved my face closer to his and saw his red eyes before I closed mine for the kiss. His tongue licked the inside of my cheeks as I felt sensations rain down my body just under my skin.

My hands tried to hold on to him as I felt as if I was free falling with my legs still on the ground. I pulled at the tie for his robe as I tried to steady myself, causing it to now fall open to me. My hands felt the heat of his skin as I clung to him. I moaned again as I felt his tail move across my breasts. They never felt so heavy or sensitive before.

When he pulled away, I took a deep and shaky breath as I looked back at him. He was bigger. His shoulders were wider and I'm sure he was taller also. His face had more angles than before and his eyes were blood red and their shape appeared to have elongated a little as he looked back at me. I looked down at his chest. Glowing white and filled with more muscle than there was before. I placed both my hands on his chest and moved them up to his shoulders to push off his robe that barely fit him anymore.

He stood in front of me a changed person. So much of him had changed but I still saw who he was despite all of them. He was the man I was falling in love with. His eyes were no longer the same, but they held a familiarly as he looked at me. His markings were darker and a little longer while his nose was almost unchanged as with his mouth. I moved my hands up to his neck that was slightly wider than before.

"Ah…" I said as I closed my eyes for a few moments. His tail had wound its way up my leg and through my thighs to wrap around my waist to play with my breasts. This was the first time it pressed and rubbed itself between my legs. I was already feeling weird from before, but now it almost hurt. Sesshomaru withdrew his tail from around my body and I took a steadying breath the same time I questioned why he stopped, but I soon got my answer as I felt his hands starting to unbutton my shirt.

I looked down and watched his fingers as he undid each one. Part of me was saying that I shouldn't be letting this happen, while another part said that it was time for this to happen. I let my arms fall to my side when he was on the last button. His fingers were warm as he touched my shoulders to slip the shirt off. His hands went down my arms then moved to rest on the waist of my pants.

"Do you want lie down?" he asked in a thick hushed tone. I nodded my head as I swallowed again. He held my waist and moved me to sit on the bed. I thought that I was too close to the edge and he would need space, for whatever he would need space for, so I crawled backwards onto the bed some more. My pants were being pulled down by the sheet as I moved along the bed. As I reached for the waist to pull them back up I felt his hand cover mine to stop me.

He pulled my pants the rest of the way down and off my legs before I felt his hand sliding up my leg as he laid next to me. I reached my hand out for his face, and pulled myself closer for another kiss. I didn't know what else to do, but I didn't want to lay there like nothing either. I thought of kissing his jaw then his neck then after that I found myself licking his chest as I smelled something wonderful coming from his skin.

"You smell good," I told him without thinking. I heard a swift intake of breath as I passed over a nipple with my tongue and stopped to watch it pucker up. I kissed and sucked on it again before I felt him placing his hand on my neck and his tail as it warped its way around my waist again. I pulled my head back when I remembered he had two and moved to the next one, but my lips never touched it. Sesshomaru pushed me back against the bed and sucked the air out of my lungs with a kiss that bruised my lips.

"My turn," he said with a smile on his face before I saw his white hair pass my eyes. _He smiled. I saw Sesshomaru_ _smile_ …

"Hah!" I exclaimed out loud as I felt his mouth on my breast. His hands had slid behind my back to hold me up to his lips as he licked, sucked and occasionally bit at my breasts and nipples. My hand found his head and I held on to him as the feeling of being eaten turned into an uneasy heat that was pooling low in me. Soon his mouth moved lower, and I sucked in my stomach each time I felt his lips on my skin and he would kiss me twice before moving one step further down.

"Aahh…" was pushed past my lips as he stuck his tongue into my belly button and kissed it before going even lower. He kissed me through my panties as I felt his fingers slide down to my waist to hook into the side of them.

"You smell very nice down here," he said before I felt his tongue lick across that piece of cloth. I knew that they were coming off and I couldn't stop from feeling embarrassed even though I told myself that he had already seen me naked. It was the idea that no one was suppose to see that part of you that was bugging me as it became clear that he was going to see more than he did before.

My eyes closed as he lifted my legs and pulled off my underwear. I felt him parting my legs and placing them on either side of himself and I waited.

"Do you want to take mine off?" he asked me. I slowly opened one eye to see him kneeling where I expected to see him. With both eyes opened I sat up and nodded my head as my hand reached out for him. I hadn't a clue how, but I knew it was just one long piece of cloth, so I looked for a tucked in end and thought to just unravel it from his body.

I found it tucked in the back, with my face pressed against Sesshomaru's chest. Near the end of unwinding this piece of cloth from around his lower half, Sesshomaru had to stand so I could finish taking off his fundoshi. I sat back down on the bed with a slight flop as I tried to believe that what I was seeing was going to fit inside me.

"I've never seen one before in person. Of course baby brothers don't count," I told him when I realized that I was being impolite by staring. He held out his hand for me and I took it without having to think twice. I stood and took a step or two for us to together and have it come between us. I felt it hot against my skin as we kissed.

"I won't hurt you," he told me a moment after he pulled out of our kiss.

"I know," I said as I smiled at him. He smiled back as he lifted me up and laid me down on the bed again. He stayed over me and laid down between my legs as we kissed again. His… his penis was laying over me until he pressed down pushing the folds at the entrance to my vagina apart. It felt good as he rubbed back and forth over my clitoris. I moaned into his mouth as I held my legs tighter against his waist.

He was moaning too and there were some growls there also. They became louder when we broke the kiss and I pressed my face into his neck.

"Kagome, can I enter you now?" Sesshomaru asked me. His words were low and heavy with his breathing when I heard them. He was still rocking against me and I felt him kissing my neck.

"Yes," I breathed before he came to a stop. I watched as he fitted us together and I prayed that this really wasn't going to hurt too much.

"AAAhhhhhhh…" I shouted as it went all the way in one time.

"I'm sorry," I heard him say as he laid down over my chest. "I'm sorry I went so fast," he said again as he kissed my skin. "Are you alright Kagome?" he asked as he looked into my face. I think he was looking at my face. I was looking straight up when I felt his voice being directed at me.

The pain that had shocked most of my senses and caused that sound to be ripped from my throat was now fading away into something else. I reached my hands out until I felt his arms and moved down until I covered his hands.

"I'm all right," I told him and I lowered my gaze to his face before closing my eyes and pulling him slight closer to me. "I think you can move now," I told him as my hips tried to do something on their own. As he moved in and out of me, his hands moved to hold my waist and my hands held his forearms. He moved faster and what was building before in me came back stronger.

He was so big inside of me that he filled me without leaving room for much else besides the air for me to breath. My mind started to spin as we met each other when he came back into me. Every sound he uttered made the feeling inside me change and get hotter. I moaned also, hoping that it was sexy enough to make him feel the same way that I did when I heard him.

The spinning in my head turned to white flashes of light and my hips started to move faster, throwing us out of rhythm.

"Something is happening to me," I told him as I pulled his face closer to my chest. "Sesshomaru!" I cried out with a tear filled voice as my world started to explode inside of me.

"I'm coming too," he said as his arms tightened around me as he moved faster also. I was jerking in his arms from things going off inside of me and under my skin as I felt hot liquid hit my insides. It was coming from him. He held on as he pushed deeper inside of me for his last few thrusts. We then laid there panting as we held on to each other.

I wanted to stay this way forever, but I knew we couldn't do that. I kissed his neck and waited in a feeling that I could only label as bliss.

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I inhaled deeply before I exhaled again. That was our scents mixing in the sweat that dripped unto the bed. I wanted to mark her, but it wasn't time. I licked her neck and the top of her shoulder. _Her heart was starting to slow down, _I notedbefore I pulled out of her.

After I had slowly separated from her I smelt blood. I looked down and saw small amounts of it on my manhood. At first I felt guilt over hurting her again, but when she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me closer I realized that this was the kind of hurt that was unavoidable and that she wasn't mad at me.

"Are you alright?" I asked her as I kissed what parts of her I could reach.

"Mmm, mm," she murmured as she nodded her head against me.

I pulled her up to kiss her slowly but deeply. _I loved the way she tasted in my mouth. _I licked my way down her neck while her fingers sunk into my hair. I tasted her breasts again as I wrapped my mokomoko around her legs, constantly sliding it against her skin.

My senses played in everything about her. The touch of her hands on me, the taste of her skin under my tongue, the feel of her skin through my fur and the sound of her as she hit such stomach aching notes were all there, but I felt like I was still missing something about her. Then the smell came to me once again and I drooled unto her body before licking it up with the thin sheen of sweet covering her chest.

"I need to taste more of you," I spoke into her flesh as I moved further down her body. I unwrapped my mokomoko from around her legs so I could separate them as I came closer to the junction where they met. I licked the top before dipping my tongue down to slide over that small protruding part of her. I lingered there, covering it with my tongue, moving over it completely and repeatedly.

She arched as I spread her legs wider and went in deeper to truly taste her. I pushed my tongue in deeper to savor it warm from her body. I wanted as much as she could give me. I slowly searched for that part of her that all females had as I took note of anywhere else that made her gasp in shock, inhale with pleasure and pushed back as she asked for more. When I found the place I was looking for she did all three.

My blood rushed through my veins as my organ pulsed to be in her again but I didn't know how much time had passed and I won't hurt her again, so I turned my attention to satisfying her instead. I felt one of her heels on my back as I licked the spot that I had spent time searching for. My hands now cupped her rear, holding her to my mouth as I continued to inflict pleasure, bringing her closer to her second climax.

The closer Kagome got, the harder she pushed against my face. I turned my face slightly as I pushed my tongue further in, hoping to touch her in the right place. My nose hit the spot that set her off. My head was caught between her legs as she shouted my name for a second time and she gave me as much as I wanted to shallow. My fingers dug into her as I licked her quivering muscles as she continued to come.

I let her ride what was left of her climax as I pulled back to look down at her sweat slick body while I licked my lips clean. She was radiant. Her black hair fanned out over the bed. Her eyes were closed with her head turned on the side as her chest still heaved. Her hands were wrapped loosely in the sheets while her legs now rubbed against mine. I don't think she was aware of that last action.

I reached for her as I laid at her side. I pulled her unto my chest and she slid her leg between mine. I gasped as sweet pleasure, that tasted more like torture, shot out from my penis to the rest of my body and mind as she rubbed against it. My hand grasped a hold of myself and I tried to relieve my suffering myself, thinking it was too much to ask her to do. I closed my eyes as one hand rubbed her back and the top of her ass while the other stoked my manhood.

I felt Kagome pull away, but I continued to bring release from what she caused in me. I felt her presence on the bed and believed that she was looking at me. That caused a stir in me and I felt some of the liquid from with in as it came out of my member and slide down to my hand and over my fingers. I felt her eyes as I imaged her looking closer. My hand moved faster as I came closer to coming. I remembered the heat of her as she was hot and tight around me before.

I grasped at the bed and stopped my hand when I felt her hot breath move over the head of my manhood. Before I sat up to look, I felt her tongue touch me. I looked down to see her bending over me as her tongue moved around the head of my member as she licked up what was dribbling out of me.

A deep moan moved through my body as I started to move my hand again. I kept in mind that I had to now tell her when I was coming or it would be an interesting surprise for her.

"AAAAhhhh…" I let out as she surprised me with the warmth of her mouth as she covered the head of my manhood, causing me to come almost on contact. Kagome held on at first, but then she pulled away as I continued to come and she hadn't swallowed yet.

I held her in my sights as I breathed deeply watching her as she licked her lips and wiped some of my essence from her forehead and hair.

"Kagome," I said as I reached out my hand for her. Once her fingers touched mine I pulled her back to laying on top of me. We kissed and looked into each others eyes.

"Everything is starting to change again," she said. I felt the bones of my face slide back into a form that I was more use to as the rest of my body slimmed down also.

"Yes, you have satisfied me well my Kagome," I told her before kissing her blushing face again.

"I don't mean you," she said as she continued to look at me. I held her in my arms as I tuned us unto our sides. I continued to look into her eyes as I felt her frame decreasing.

"You aren't glowing anymore. Nothing is," she said. It had worn off. If I had taken her again, we would have finished just in time, maybe. I felt a slight loss, but I was also grateful that I hadn't tried to take her again. I pulled my mokomoko close and laid it over both our bodies. I wasn't going to part from her tonight. I held her close and she rested her head on my chest.

I waited for sleep to come, but I heard as it claimed her first.


	49. Chapter 49

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Chapter 49

"Kagome," a voice said as I was rocked. I just held on to the warmth in my hands and tried to ignore it.

"Kagome," it said again.

"Mummm," I moaned in protest. I felt nice here.

"Love, it is time to wake," it said. He said. Sesshomaru said. My eyes snapped open. There he was laying in bed in front of me.

"Sesshomaru," I said. He smiled. _He smiled last night too. Last night!_ Embarrassment over how I acted started to weigh down on me. _I licked, I _licked_…_ I pulled what I had in my hands over my face. I couldn't look at him.

"Why are you hiding from me Kagome," Sesshomaru asked me.

"I'm not hiding from you," I said as I hid from him. What was in my hands started to move. I felt the fine hairs as they slipped through my fingers. It was his tail that I was holding on to. I watched the white as it disappeared from my sight allowing Sesshomaru to look on my face again and for me to see his eyes.

"You look lovely when you blush," he whispered as he pulled my face closer to his. I gasped as I felt the length of his body as it pressed up against mine. This gave him the opening to slide his tongue into my mouth. My shock turned into acceptance and my embarrassment turned into want. I sunk into him as my mind started to spin. When Sesshomaru pulled away I had enough of this happy feeling not to protest.

"You have to get ready for breakfast," he said a moment later.

"Ok," I answered him before sitting up. "AH!" I squealed in surprise at the feel of his lips on my lower back.

"I'm going back to my room," he told me as he sat up. "I'll be back to walk you to breakfast before I leave," he added before standing up.

"Where are you going?" I asked as I stood also. I remembered what he said last night at dinner and I wondered if he was really going to send me back now.

"I have to speak with Masami-sama," he answered as he retrieved his robe from the floor.

"And after Masami-sama?" I quietly asked him.

"I will return to take you to the well," he answered as if that was the only answer to give.

"Why are you taking me home?" I asked him. "I thought that I was suppose to stay with you if Masami-sama found something and she did," I told him as I took a step closer.

"I am not taking you home," he said as he turned towards me and reached out for my shoulders. "I would like to spend some time with you while not being surrounded by the others for a few days. I wish for us to stay at the hut next to the well," he finished.

I couldn't stop from smiling up at him. I reached up and kissed him for making me feel so happy. He may never show anyone else this side of him but I was happy that it was there for me.

"Thank you Sesshomaru," I said when we parted. I stood by the bed and watched him as he shrugged on his robe and walked towards the door. He paused as he was walking out the door, but he didn't look back before stepping out and closing it.

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Everyone enjoyed their part of the morning meal with little conversation. There was nothing odd or awkward about Kagome being taken to the well with Sesshomaru anymore and they were use to her going back to her own time since the day they met, but this will be the first time that she would be gone for so long. She had never been gone for a whole month before.

Shippo told her as much while saying that he would miss her before being pulled out of the room by Inuyasha, who wished her a safe trip as he took the young fox to the Dojo. Miroku was not as saddened by her leaving because he didn't believe that she would be leaving them all behind for that long a period. He was though unsure of what to tell her, so he just reworded what Inuyasha said and added that he would be there waiting for her return.

Miroku was sure that she believed, on some level, that he didn't have a true reason to stay with the group now that Naroku was dead and Sango was going to be mated with Kouga. He saw happiness in Kagome's eyes when she walked into the dining room that morning and he knew who caused it, even if that person was absent from the morning meal.

Oddly enough, Miroku believed that Sesshomaru may be the key to his happiness also. Kagome's smiling eyes gave him hope that what he was sticking around for would soon be made public, so that he and Inuyasha wouldn't have to go back into deep hiding once they were traveling with what would be left of their group again.

Miroku knew that Kagome would go on looking for the shards and that Inuyasha would go with her. He would go with Inuyasha and Sesshomaru had already committed himself to the venture. Whether or not Sango was with them was unknown. Shippo was also another unknown it was a given that he would want to come, but whether or not he would be allowed to come with us hadn't been decided yet.

Once Miroku left to attend Rin's writing lesson with her, Kagome finished her meal quickly so that she could complete her packing by the time Sesshomaru returned.

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Sesshomaru's mokomoko was wrapped around Kagome's shoulders when they landed a few feet from the steps leading up into the hut. The hut was a familiar sight to the girl's eyes. It was listed in her memory vault between her home where she grew up with mama, Soto and grandpa and where she was now spending most of her time when not traveling. It may take a while for her to call Sesshomaru's home cozy, but it had picked up a fuzzy feeling for her when she thought of it.

Sesshomaru saw the small stack of wood that had been turned into something that housed ningens and at one time his Kagome and the other members of her group. He started to see some of his memories that now lived there as he watched her walk up the steps. One memory in particular made him consider going out to hunt for their dinner.

"I'll be back," he said before turning and using his speed to disappear into the forest and out of Kagome's sight.

As she stepped into the hut, Kagome saw what had become of the place since they had neglected to visit it for so long. She even believed that the outside looked a bit cleaner than the inside of the hut did at that moment. She placed her bag and the bundle that she had gotten from Sesshomaru just outside the door before fully entering the shelter. She rolled up her sleeves as she walked to where she remembered the broom being the last time she was there.

Kagome went about putting to use every bit of cleaning information she had been given from when she worked at the shrine with grandpa and cleaned the house with her mama. She quickly came up with an order in which to clean the perceived mess which helped time to pass quickly for her.

Kagome paused for a moment as she sat back and wiped her arm across her wet and hot forehead. It had already been some time since she started her cleaning, but she was in cleaning mode and she just knew how much work she had already done and what was the next thing to be done. Kagome bent back down to get the last part of the floor wiped clean. She picked up the rag and placed it in the bucket at her side that also held the brush, that she had used before, now that she was finished. The only thing in front of her now was one of the hut's walls that she had already wiped down.

She stood and took the bucket outside where she dumped the water next to the tree before making her way back up the steps and inside. As she stepped back inside she shivered from the cold as she thought of what was left to do. She'd cleaned the whole hut out and with the sun still fairly high in the sky, Kagome thought of building a fire for lunch and some more warmth as it would soon start getting colder. She hadn't found much in way of food supplies when she cleaned, but she was sure that Sesshomaru would provide something for them to eat.

The fire was lit and a pot of boiling water was waiting to be turned into tea when Kagome heard footsteps outside.

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"It's going to snow soon," I said from my place on the balcony.

"I don't care when it's going to snow, but I would appreciate it if you would come in and close those doors. It's cold in here now," Miroku almost cried from his place on the bed. I smiled back at him as he laid huddled in the extra thick sheets as he looked back at me.

"Alright," I said as I leaned off the bamboo railing and began walking inside. I stopped to pull the doors closed before continuing to walk towards our bed. When I was closer he stuck his head out and laid it on a pillow that was close by.

"Are you still cold?" I asked him as I lifted the sheets to slide in next to him.

"Yes," he answered as we both reached for each other when I was close enough. "You are so warm," he said with his eyes closed as he laid on my chest. I looked down at his face as he laid there looking rather happy. I started to feel happy also as I thought once again, at how lucky I was that he had feelings for me.

I ran my hand up and down his back and over his side as he got more comfortable. I heard his breathing as it became shallower, letting me know that he was falling asleep if he wasn't already. His morning with Rin turned out to be a bit more than just watching her learn how to write.

They came by the Dojo and watched me as I played with Shippo trying to see what he had learned from his combat classes lately. Afterwards, Miroku and I watched Rin and Shippo as they played in the garden. I was enjoying a comfortable spot that I found in a tree as I looked down at them roaming and playing on the ground. Miroku and Rin started to complain about the cold which caused me to give up my newly acquired spot. I remembered to tell the runt that he did well in the Dojo as we all came inside. I also told him that the next time we sparred, he could show me his fox fire just before he left with Rin to go to their room. Shippo was tired and Rin was cold.

On the way to our own bedroom we ran in Amaya and I told her that we were all going to be eating lunch in our rooms. Miroku had kept on walking while I stayed to talk with her. I thought that he was really cold and wanted to go under the covers to get warmer and I was right, kinda. When I walked into the room he was in the bed and under the covers, but he wasn't as covered up as as I expected him to be as I saw him laying across the foot of the bed waiting for me. That had me thinking of all the other ways we could get warm together.

**KNOCK, KNOCK.**

_Amaya_, I said to myself before carefully easing out from under Miroku and walking towards the door. I stopped when I was half way to the door to turn back to put on a robe. I was tying the obi as I opened the door to three servants; two girls and one male. They laid everything out on a low table that was over to the left and in the corner of the room.

"Thank you," I said as they bowed before leaving. They covered everything, but I could still smell the roasted pork and the fried peppers easily. I walked back over the bed to see if Miroku felt up to eating now.

"Miroku," I called before sucking on his ear to get his attention. He moaned and turned away from me as he wiped his ear. I grinned as I moved over him and onto the bed to lick his lips before calling his name again.

"Miroku, the food is here," I told him as his eyes started to open.

"Hah?" he asked me as he started to sit up. "Food," he then said before I could tell him again. He slid off the bed with the sheets warped around him as he made his way, with the help of his own nose, over to the low table. He sat down on one of the cushions and started to uncover dish after dish of hot food.

I sat across from him and got my chop sticks so we could eat together. I openly watched him as he ate, since I only got to at times like these. His hair was a complete mess that he only moved out of his eyes as he continued to taste everything until he picked up a bowl and started to create his own share. After he had picked out all that he wanted I made my own bowl and started eating.

"Her name was Makoto," Miroku said as he placed his empty bowl on the table with his chopsticks crisscrossing over the top of it a little while later.

"Who is Makoto?" I asked as I chewed on one of the peppers.

"I guess she was my wife," he laughed. I choked.

"Your wife," I coughed at him.

"Yes, she was," he answered me.

I looked at him as I managed to swallow what was still in my mouth. _He said that she __was__ his wife,_ I said inside my head. "She died?" I asked him as I also put down my bowl and laid my chopsticks next to it. He nodded his head.

"Yeah," he said a few minutes later. "She died doing something she wanted for me." He looked sad and I got up and walked around the table to sit next to him.

"Does it still hurt to talk about her?" I asked him.

"I'm a little bit sad when I think of her," he said before taking a deep breath. "She was a good person and a good friend," he ended.

"Good friend?" I questioned. "I thought you said that she was your wife? Aren't you suppose to love your wife?" I asked him.

"I loved her dearly, but I never fell in love with her," he told me.

"If you didn't fall in love with her, why did you marry her?" I asked him as some of the sympathy I had for him faded.

"She was the only one who said yes when I asked her if she would have my child. At least, that is what she told me," he answered.

"What?" I asked him.

"This is how it happened," he said as he turned towards me. He pulled the sheets closer to his body and covered his arms and legs completely.

**I met Makoto a year after Akio. She was a beggar that I shared some food with when I first saw her. She started following me around after that. I didn't really notice that she was following me for the first two days, but when I saw her again, I became aware of her being close by. When I let her camp with me the first night, I learned that she was able to get some money or some food from the women who turned me down when I asked them to bear my child because she was close by, and they felt like helping a girl or something after talking with me. I had just started to ask that question a few months before I met her. I had started to think that I should start trying to find someone who would have a child for me while I was that young so the child would have a full childhood in case they inherited the wind tunnel. **

**That first night Makoto asked me about my hand and I told her, but I didn't think much of her at the time. As the weeks passed by we became friends and she would even play off of my offer that I made to the young ladies who turned me down and they would give her a little bit more than if they just felt sorry for her. **

**The the worst and best day of my younger years happened because of a bet I made with her. Makoto dared me to ask fifty girls in this large town we were at that week, if they would bear my child. She said that they all couldn't turn me down and by the twentieth girl, I should know what I was saying wrong and fix it to get at least one of the last thirty girls to say yes.**

**But she was wrong. Both sides of my face had been slapped red by the time I called it quits and she was grinning as she showed me a heavy purse. She then treated us to a night at a cheap inn. We had bottles of sake and ate pork dumplings along with eggy rice. That was the happy part of my day of course. I don't remember when I fell asleep, but when I woke up I was under a blanket with Makoto naked and sleeping my arms. I lied there trying to remember what happened. I just recalled parts of a fuzzy dream I had, until I saw the girl's face and realized that it was Makoto and not a dream.**

**I apologized when she woke up, but she told me not to and that she wanted to do. I told her that I didn't think of her as anything other than a friend and she said she knew. She said that she wasn't expecting me to just fall in love with her after having slept with her. As she looked away while saying those words I knew that that was what she was hoping for. We stayed until after breakfast and we talked about a few things. I still liked her and she didn't have anywhere to really go, so we came up with an odd compromise. **

**We would continue to travel together until she found somewhere to settle down and I wouldn't cut her loose unless she tried to sleep with me again. I did like her, but I didn't want to cause her too much pain by constantly telling her that I didn't love her that way. She agreed, but in three weeks we had to do something new. We found out that she was pregnant when we stopped to see a healer when she couldn't keep anything down and had been throwing up for the last week. When I found that out, I decided to do the honorable thing and told her that I would marry her. So we traveled to a town that I hadn't visited yet, that was close to the cost, and slowly I talked my way into becoming their local monk for ceremonies and such and we even got our own hut two months later. **

**When the villagers found out that we hadn't been married yet, they threw us a wedding party where the old aging monk, that I was going to take over for, performed the rights and pronounced us married. A month later I was at his death bed when he confessed to me that he wasn't a real monk. He had won a set of monk's robes when he was younger and while he was trying them out, he was found by a crying girl who wanted someone to help her grandfather who was traveling with her that day. **

**He said that he didn't do anything monk-like, but because he did help the old man and his granddaughter, he was asked to be the holy man for their house. He almost didn't do it, but once he was told how much he would be paid and where he would be staying, he agreed. **

**He told me all his stories until his spirit passed away mid-sentence. I never told anyone until now. I most defiantly didn't tell Makoto. She was so happy and I wanted her to stay that way. We never had sex again, but we held hands and I kissed her on her face to see her smile or to apologize for something that made her upset. I saw her as my best friend at this time. She was about six months along at this point and I had never seen her happier. **

**The next three months went by well, but Makoto stayed home more and more because she got tired easily when she walked more than the length of our hut at a time. The midwife said that it was normal for some women to lose their energy when they were heavy with child and that we shouldn't worry. **

**It was nearing her time when I had to spend a night with a child, who's mother was convinced that he was possessed. The child wasn't possessed. He was just sneaking out to meet with a girl and then he would say that he didn't remember leaving the house when his mother asked him where had been, when she didn't find him in bed the night before. **

**The girl, for some reason, came looking for him and found me keeping watch. I talked it over with them and we worked out a better way for them to see other until he could prove himself to be a worthy husband for her by her father's standards. **

**When I got back to my own home, Makoto wasn't there. A little girl from the hut next to ours was waiting for me instead. She said that Makoto had belly pains yesterday after lunch and was at the midwife's hut. We both than ran over to the midwife's hut. I thought that I was going to greet Makoto and our newly born child, but as I got closer, I just heard screaming. I out ran the little girl the rest of the way there. I knew that it was Makoto I heard screaming. **

**I rushed inside and there she was, on the bed with so much blood at her feet. **

…

**I couldn't move. I stood there looking at her screaming and in pain until someone pulled me outside. When I was outside I could breathe again and think again. I was suppose to be in there next to her, helping her, but I couldn't make myself go back inside. Someone came out and I asked them what was going on. The girl told me that the baby was turned the wrong way and they were having a hard time turning it back around. She was about to say more when someone called her name and she ran back inside. **

**Soon I couldn't hear Makoto anymore so I expected to hear a baby crying. This is what you expect, but I didn't hear anything. I sat outside waiting to be called and when I was, I still hadn't heard a baby crying. I thought that the baby died and that I was being called in see a weeping mother and the body of a dead child. Instead I saw Makoto laying on the bed with her belly still big. I didn't understand.**

**I saw her reaching out to me with a pale hand. When I touched her, she was cold. Her mouth moved and I came closer to hear what she was trying to say, but I only heard one word before her lips stopped moving and eyes closed. "Sorry". I stayed there and cried on my knees until the midwife herself came and helped me up. **

I couldn't sit still anymore. I reached out and pulled Miroku to me. He was crying and getting the sheets wet. The sight of his tears and broken composer tore at my heart, keeping me from thinking of anything right away to comfit him. So I just held him in my arms as I rocked him and brushed my hand over his head.

"I'm sorry that you lost them like that," I finally told him while holding him close. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer. _It must have been a long time since he cried for them_. A few minutes later I felt him pulling away and I loosened my grip around him.

"I have never talked about her," Miroku said as he wiped his face with part of the sheet. "She was always a memory that I would just think of now and again," he said before turning his head to look at the table and the food that was still there.

"Do you feel like eating?" I asked him as I held his hand that he had freed from the sheet earlier.

"A little bit, but I was really thinking of how I ruined your meal," he said as he reached out his right hand for my chop sticks. He used them to pick up something that smelled like it had been pickled and looked orange. He placed it to my lips and waited for me to take it. I opened my mouth and bit down on the chip sticks as he pulled them back out, leaving the food in my mouth. It was a pickled orange slice.

I held the sour and sweet thing in my mouth as I looked at him. I didn't really like it, so it took me awhile to make up my mind to chew it. As I started to chew, Miroku place my chop sticks back on the table before he moved towards me while leaving the sheet behind.

I stopped chewing as his face came closer to mine and he pressed our lips together. He pushed his tongue into my mouth to mix it with what was left of the orange slice.

"I have you now Inuyasha," he said as he pushed me back towards the floor. My arm encircled his back to pull him with me as I let him push me down.

"And you'll have me forever," I told him before I went back to kissing him and trying to make sure that he knew I loved him and that I was here for him now and forever.


	50. Chapter 50

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Chapter 50

"Kaede," Kagome said in surprise as her older friend walked into the hut.

"Good day child," Kaede said as she came further inside to give the young lady a hug as she came towards her.

"Why are you here?" Kagome asked her as she helped her to kneel close to the fire.

"I felt your presence early in the day with another," Kaede said as she accepted the cup of very fresh tea. "I would have been here sooner, but I didn't sense any danger and Hitomi needed to be tended to before I could leave," Kaede explained.

"Hitomi? She's sick?" Kagome asked. She hadn't seen Hitomi in months.

"It seems to be the cold with a fever but she is having a harder time getting over it then the rest of her family did, so she is staying with me while I treat her illness," the old woman answered. She took another sip of tea while looking at Kagome. Kaede wondered how to ask the question she had in mind before she settled on her normal straight forward way as being the best.

"Did you come here alone child?" she asked the young girl. The presence she sensed earlier felt like it belonged to a strong demon. Maybe it didn't come with Kagome. Maybe they just crossed paths and it had already moved on Kaede thought to herself as she saw nothing to show that anyone was with the her. Kagome seemly paused and put off answering the question as she took a very slow slip from her own cup.

"Well," she said after swallowing what was in her mouth. "I came with…" Both women turned their heads to the door as they heard new sounds to let them know that someone was coming into the hut.

Sesshomaru ducked inside holding his armor in his hands. He was using one half of it to carry meat, of some kind, that looked freshly killed and mostly cleaned while the other half of his armor dangled from the fingers of his other hand by it's tie straps.

"Miko," he said upon seeing Kaede in Kagome's presence.

"Sesshomaru-sama," Kaede acknowledged with a bow of her head. He stepped forward and placed his armor's breast plate, which was laden with the meat, in front of Kagome. She smiled at him before she remembered Kaede and turned to look at her with the smile still lingering on her face.

Sesshomaru looked at Kaede with caution. He had not spent much time with her and the fact that she was a miko that grew up hating his kind and even helped to keep his half-brother imprisoned in some way, just made him note all her actions as he stood there.

Kaede looked at them both as Sesshomaru eventually moved to sit next to Kagome, if not a little ahead of her. Sesshomaru and Kagome looked at her as she looked back at them.

"Thank ye for the tea," Kaede said as she placed the cup down in front of her before she started to push herself up off the floor. She didn't see as Kagome tapped Sesshomaru to have him help her up, so she froze when she felt his hand on her arm. They looked into each other's faces before she accepted his help. "Thank ye Sesshomaru-sama," Kaede said once she was standing.

When Sesshomaru released her, he moved back to Kagome's side but stayed standing this time. Kaede felt that he was doing it to make her leave the hut a bit faster. But she wasn't going to be silently bullied by any demon, Sesshomaru included. She stood her ground as she turned to ask Kagome a question.

"How long will ye be here?" she asked the still kneeling girl. Kagome looked up at Sesshomaru before looking back at the old miko.

"About four days," she answered. Kaede nodded her head. She now had a time frame for anyone who might voice some concern over seeing a white haired demon near the village.

"It was nice to see ye again child," Kaede said as he fixed an outer robe that she had been wearing all this time. She nodded her head in Kagome's and Sesshomaru's and direction before turning to leave the hut. Kaede wasn't sure what to make of what looked like a couple to her, but so much had changed since she first saw the reincarnation of her sister in this girl. Kagome herself had shown growth in the years they had known and fought side by side with each other.

The old village priestess pulled her robe tighter as she stood at the foot of the hut's steps. She looked back at the structure and hoped that Kagome had found happiness after all she had gone through. She held a hand in front of her face and her lips moved before she turned away and walked back to the village.

Sesshomaru shivered at this moment and thought that something was very wrong. It wasn't cold enough for him to be bothered by it.

"Are you cold?" he asked Kagome as she sat next to him picking out pieces of meat to cook.

"A little," she confessed as she continued with her task. He walked over to the door and looked at it in a way that didn't hide his belief that it was the reason for their discomfort. He reached out a pale, strong, sender hand to pull on part of the door. A loud scraping noise filed the small space as Sesshomaru pulled the sliding door into use. They both heard the dirt as it was rolled and crushed under the moving piece of wood as most of the cold air was now blocked from getting inside.

Sesshomaru now took notice of the bundle that he had brought with them from his home. He picked it up and walked over to Kagome's side with it. Sesshomaru sat down and started to untie it. Kagome looked up from the pieces of meat that she was drying off from the rinse she had given them, to see a few things grouped in the middle of the cloth. There were some vegetables, a small bag of rice, a smaller bag that looked like it held salt and a few small jars.

Kagome turned her attention back to the meat and seasoned it with the last of what she had found in the house before sliding them unto sticks and putting them just over the fire to cook. Once she had placed the last one over the flame, Sesshomaru started to slide a few things towards her. He gave her all the vegetables, which were made up of some carrots, a few sweet potatoes, one head of cabbage and some small onions.

Kagome picked out a few to use, while the ones left over along with the head of cabbage were stored away for another day. Next was the salt. She took some out to use in the cooking of the rice and the vegetables that were going to be boiled soon. Since she had the salt in hand, Kagome decided to salt all the meat in one go. It was cold, but not cold enough to keep the meat from going bad for the next few days that they were going to stay there. The next thing that Sesshomaru placed in front of her was a bag of rice and she dealt quickly with it before turning her attention to the jar that was next.

Kagome opened it and saw a dark liquid moving inside. She stuck a finger in and tasted it. Shoyu. She recognized it instantly. The kinds that she came across in this era were stronger than the ones she bought from the stores back home. She poured some into two very small bowls for each of them to use with the meal before she packed it away.

The next jar that was pushed towards her held four bottles like the one she drank from last night along with the measuring cup that Masami had shown her. Kagome picked one up and looked at it. It was half filed with gray powder. She placed it back with the others and recovered the jar before getting up to put it in its own corner of the hut. She blushed slightly as she walked past Sesshomaru as she held it in her arms. On her way back she thought that she placed it too close to the sleeping area, but she decided to move it after they had lunch instead of running back for it now and trying to think of a new place to put it while Sesshomaru looked at her.

Kagome was bright red by the time she took her place again. She tried to hide it in the heat of the fire as she opened a pot to look inside and poked at a carrot. After she sat back and away from the fire, after turning the meat, Sesshomaru slide another small jar her way.

"Masami-sama instructed that you take this with your meals until we are ready to have a child," Sesshomaru told her with an almost too straight a face.

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"Oh," I said as I looked into a jar of red paste. _A child? How could I have forgotten about getting pregnant? I could be pregnant now from what we did last night. _For a moment I felt like cupping my tummy but the impulse died before I stood to get another plate to place some of the red stuff on it to eat with my lunch. "How much am I suppose to take?" I asked Sesshomaru with my back him.

"About half a spoon," he said from behind my ear.

"Ah!" I shouted in surprise at realizing that he was so close. Now I felt his body heat against my back.

"I'm sorry," Sesshomaru said as he touched the back of my neck. "There is more," he continued. "She said that this will stop your pregnancy if one has already started, but the pain you will feel will be very little if it happened so recently."

"I think that lunch is just about ready," I said as I moved away from his touch and back to the fire with two eating bowls. _I __am not __going to let his touch get to me before I took this paste._ I moved the two pots from over the fire and I watched Sesshomaru as I made my way back his side again. I managed to pour the water off of the cooked vegetables without getting burnt. I took my seat again to share out the vegetables with the rice and roasted meat into our two bowls.

I looked at the white rice as I scooped it up and placed a larger amount into a bowl that I had decided was Sesshomaru's. I started to remember things from sex education class that I had forgotten until I snapped myself out of it, as I found myself remembering the drawing that always hung on the wall next to my desk.

_I am with someone that I really love, in an ideal countryside to spend the next four days together._ I told myself. _I didn't have to worry about anything now that he got the red paste from Masami._ _I also didn't have to think of anything as yucky of STD's either since he isn't human_, I told myself as I finished sharing out our meal.

I felt Sesshomaru watching me as I moved about putting out our noon meal. He was still standing on the other side of the room where I left him. When I was finished with both our bowls I heard him pick up something. I looked up as he saw him starting to sit down next to me. He held the plate with the red paste on it. He placed it next to my share of the food before picking up his own bowl.

We ate our meal in silence as I tried to think of something interesting to say. _We couldn't be quite for the whole time we were here._ When I looked up from my bowl, Sesshomaru seemed to be thinking about something.

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Sesshomaru was thinking the same thing. This wasn't how he expected or wanted to spend their time together while away from the others. Now that he had slept with her, he was reminding himself of how he acted with her before last night.

He stood and walked over to the sleeping mats with Kagome watching him with a large measure of interest.

"Bring the tea," he said as he passed her. Kagome blinked a few times before she gave up thinking of what he was up to and just took the pot of tea with their two cups as she followed him outside.

As she stepped outside, she saw him sitting on the mats that he had arranged on the ground with his mokomoko pooled next to him, as he looked over the tresses and into the valley. Kagome smiled as she walked over to him thinking that things would be ok.

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I smelled her on the air as she came closer carrying the pot of tea and our cups. Kagome sat down and poured us some more tea. Our fingers grazed past each other as I took the cup from her. I tasted her skin on the cup as I took my first sip. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the taste as she leaned back against the tree I had chosen. I moved my mokomoko to wrap it around her and pulled her closer to my side as we looked out onto the world before us.

My heart added an extra beat to its rhythm, when I felt Kagome slip her hand into mine a few minutes later. I squeezed her fingers when I felt how cold they were.

"Do you want to stay out here?" I asked her after trying to get her warm by covering her body with my mokomoko. I only asked her when I didn't think that I was getting her warm enough for my liking.

"No," she said as I felt her turning her face into my sleeve. "I want to stay out here with you."

"You aren't cold?" I asked to make sure. Masami wasn't here in case she got sick.

"I'm not that cold," she told me as I turned to look at her. "You did a good job of making me warm," she said as I watched her face blush over as she drew closer. We kissed and her touch seemed to get warmer as she pulled me down unto her. Soon I was laying over her body and her hands were level with her breasts as she gripped at my kimono.

I was starting to kiss down her neck when I realized that my face had already started to change shape. I started to pull back and breathe deeply with my eyes closed to gain the control I knew I possessed. My mind reeled with more thoughts of her as her smell was dragged into my lungs.

I felt as Kagome's hands laxed in their hold on me. I opened my eyes to see that she had turned her face and closed her eyes. _Something was wrong._

"Kagome?" I asked as I slid to her side and reached my hand up to touch her cheek.

"Nn?" she murmured with her eyes still closed.

"What's wrong?" I asked her as I moved my fingers over her skin.

"It's nothing," she lied. I knew it was a lie. I heard it in her voice. I pulled her back to me and I kissed her shoulder and just held her around the waist as I looked out over the trees again. In time she opened her eyes again and looked with me.

When sunset came Kagome spoke to me again.

"Can you walk with me to Kaede's hut?" she asked.

"Why do you want to see the miko?" I asked her in return. The idea of going into a ningen village which I wasn't lord over, didn't have any appeal for me, and going to that miko's dwelling held even less.

"I wanted to share some of the meat that you brought back," she answered. "Kaede told me that a friend of mine is sick and staying with her while she gets better. I haven't seen her in a long time and I want to give her something," she ended.

I thought it over without looking at her. _Walk through a ningen's village, at night, with a ningen female at my side, to a miko's hut, to visit another sick ningen female. That doesn't sound like the start of our first night alone that I was hoping for. _I felt Kagome as she moved and I looked down to see her facing me.

"We can stop at the hot spring on our way back and take a bath," she said as she placed her hand on my chest. _Dear kami,_ I thought as I felt her hand touching my skin and idea of seeing her naked and wet filled my mind. I turn my head away before the continued sight of her hopeful face stopped both of us from reaching the hut.

"I'll accompany you," I told her as I breathed out. I stood first and helped her to stand before we started gathering our things. I collected the mats and she retrieved the pot and cups once again.

I let her walk ahead of me as I stood still to let my blood cool a bit more. When I reached inside I saw her starting to put on something that looked like air was trapped inside and she didn't try to pat it out. I have managed to like this garment even less then than her 'jeans'. A few times I've caught myself poking at it to make it look normal, but the air wouldn't come out.

I looked around the hut as I waited and saw that the meat had already been tied up to be taken. I gave her another glance to see that she was just about ready to leave and took the bundle with me as I want outside to wait for her.

I stood on the porch for a moment before walking down the steps. I stopped to look back at her as she slid the door closed. She turned and smiled at me as she came closer. I felt her arm as she wrapped it around mine before she settled for just holding my hand.

I squeezed her hand before holding it in return. _Maybe this walk wasn't such an ill conceived idea after all,_ I told myself as we entered the trees.

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**Shoyu - Soy sauce** (US), **soya sauce** (Commonwealth), or **shoyu** (Japan) is a fermented sauce made from soybeans (soya beans), roasted grain, water and salt.


	51. Chapter 51

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Chapter 51

My heart was spit in two when I first kissed Inuyasha, but bit by aroused bit I thought less of Makoto and more of him. With my heart whole again and belonging to him, he tired to have it beat its way through my chest as he pinned my arms to the floor as he moved his mouth across my chest. I felt myself pushing up against his warm frame as he pushed down onto mine. My body melted on the inside.

"Huum," I moaned as my penis rubbed against the fine hairs that were low on his torso.

"Ah... hah," passed my lips as his teeth pulled at my nipples and other parts of my chest as he moved further down. He raked his teeth over my stomach and my skin pricked with goose bumps before it started to burn from the inside out.

"Ah, Inuyasha," I said as he moved my hands to my sides as his face went lower down my body. Shivers started to travel through my body as his hands left my arms and he drifted, claws first, across me. They were almost as lazy as his tongue as they moved, then stopped and slowly dug into me. I dug my own fingers into one of the cushions as he pushed one of his sharp nails into a nipple.

He did it exquisitely slowly to have me wishing he would keep going deeper, even though I knew I was bleeding. All too soon those deliciously sharp points moved on and I felt the stinging trail they left behind before they were replaced with the soft tips of his fingers. I saw him in my mind licking at those cuts later and I couldn't stop from shivering again.

I felt for his head with my left hand before all ten of my fingers moved into his thick hair as the heat and wetness of his mouth covered and sucked on my penis. My body felt tightly connected to each part of itself and scattered into many pieces at the same time. I was only sure of the parts of me that Inuyasha touched and lit on fire. My belly reminded me of its existence as I felt pleasure starting to build there.

"Ah!" I exclaimed in surprise as I felt Inuyasha pull me along with him as he sat up and pulled my lower half up to his face. I watched with shaded eyes as his arms as he held my waist somehow as his tongue slid from between his tempting lips out towards me.

"Hhuunn," I moaned from low in my body as I closed my eyes. The sensations I felt from his tongue entering me and had me melting back onto him. I scooted closer to him, as much as I could, in a silent plea for more when I felt him stop. I opened my eyes again as I felt him kissing the inside of my very open thighs.

"I haven't really stopped," he said before he kissed another part of my leg. "I just wanted to see your face before I made you come," he finished before going back down on me again. His hair was the last thing I saw as I felt his tongue circle my entrance. I felt myself pucker from his touch and I closed my eyes as he started to probe his way inside once again.

I moved my body without wanting to as everything inside me was stirred. My penis was so hard it almost hurt as it felt it bouncing between Inuyasha's strong arms and his long far reaching tongue. Shakes and shudders had my trembling in his grasp as he repeatedly found, moved over and assaulted the weak point in me. My chest heaved, my breathing was ragged and my palms were pressed against his knees.

"Ahh…hah…ha...HaH...," I panted as the thought of not being able to take any more moved through what was left of my mind.

"Inuyasha…no…more," I managed to get out. I felt hot cum dripping on to me from two places as saliva trickled down my back from a tongue that didn't stop what it was doing.

"AAhh…" I cried out as Inuyasha took a firm hold of my neglected penis.

"Ahhh … haaahhh…" I cried out again as he started to pump me at a fast pace. "…yasha, I'm… I'm…," I now held on to his knees instead of pushing against them as he pushed me over the edge of ecstasy as I came in his hand and over my body. He pumped me until I was dry, which was a total of five satisfying squirts.

My eyes drifted open as they tried to stay close. I knew he watched me at the end. I felt it. I reached a hand up for him and he quickly held it as he slid his body over mine and kissed me firmly with closed lips before as he gathered me closer.

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I was only slightly bothered by the looks I received from the villagers as we made our way to Kaede's house. Over the years I had gotten use to this as I walked next to Inuyasha. They would fear him or try to hurt him until they needed his help. When I first started out on this adventure with him, I blamed him for all the fights he was in, thinking that he was just quick to start a fight until I learned he wasn't the one who went looking for the confrontation in the first place.

This was a blow to my notion of him being the one who loved a fight no matter what. I then realized that he would rather stay away from everyone, including me, most of the time until we really became a group with Shippo, Sango and Miroku.

I looked to my side and up at Sesshomaru's always impressive profile. He was the demon drawing their attention tonight. This would explain why most of the onlookers this time were women and girls of every age. As we got closer to Kaede's I started to hear his name more as it was whispered from one person to the next along the side of the road.

My hand still felt slightly warm from when we were held hands walking through the woods. All too soon we had reached the edge of the village and I felt him pull his hand away. The eyes I felt on us brought me back to the display of walking we seemed to be putting on for the villagers. I turned and looked at him again just as he looked down at me. I smiled without saying anything almost as a reflex. Some of the tension I saw in him slipped away before he looked ahead of us again.

"Kagome!" someone shouted from my left. Out dashed a girl who looked to be close to my own age. As she momentary stood still, to gaze at Sesshomaru before continuing towards me, I remembered her name. It was Ai, Hitomi's twin sister.

"Ai," I greeted her when she made it to my side.

"Kagome," Ai said again as she hugged me hello, before her eyes found themselves looking at Sesshomaru again.

"Ai, this is Sesshomaru-sama, Lord of the Western Lands. He is Inuyasha's half brother," I introduced. "Sesshomaru-sama, this is Ai, Hitomi's twin sister," I told Sesshomaru.

He nodded his head in her direction and she bowed in return before he turned back to Keade's house. I pulled Ai with me as we started to walk again.

"Are you on your way to see your sister too?" I asked Ai.

"Yes," she answered. "I go to see her every morning and every night. I'm not use to not being with her for most of the day," Ai finished.

"How long has she been staying with Keade?" I asked her.

Ai looked a little bit more depressed as she answered. "It's been a week now."

"Well I'm sure she will be getting better soon," I said to make her feel better.

"Lady Keade said that she was getting better this morning, but she will still need a lot of rest even after she is better, she advised me," Ai explained.

"See," I told her as I gave her a side hug as we walked. "Things are getting better," I said as we walked closer to Keade's house. I could now see it very clearly, as it was only three houses away.

"Do you think she will be wake when we get there? I was hoping to talk to her for a bit. Oh, I have this for your family," I said as I remembered the salted meat that I was carrying. I lifted it for her to see before I gave it to her. "I was going to give it to Hitomi, but we were lucky to have met you so you can take it home," I said with a smile as she took it.

"Thank you Kagome," Ai said as she after she peeked inside. We started walking again and almost ran in Sesshomaru who was standing still in front of us.

"Oh, sorry," I said as we stepped backwards. "What's wrong Sesshomaru-sama," I asked before I looked around him. "Where here," I said as I reached back to pull Ai's hand. I was half way inside when I looked back for Sesshomaru. He was just looking at me and it didn't appear like he was going to come inside with us. I smiled at him as I continued inside with Ai in tow.

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I watched Kagome as she ran inside the hut that held the aura of the old miko. A few smells that I faintly inhaled around Masami's home were far more potent in the air here. I turned my back to the hut and looked into the village and the small crowd that still lingered. As my gaze moved over each ningen, they turned and went back to their lives.

I sensed nothing out of the ordinary about this village. I could smell the faint odor of the sea that couldn't be more than twenty miles away. The village itself wasn't very large with only the smell of a few hundred ningens around. I looked up at the sky and saw the clouds moving across it. It was going to snow soon. I inhaled the strong wetness on the air.

When the area in front of Keade's hut was fully cleared of on lookers, two ningen females walked by very slowly. They were a little younger than Kagome and they openly looked at me as they moved past. I looked back at the curious pair as they walked around the hut and myself, before watching them run out of sight.

I pondered as to why they would show me such interest. I believed it was my white hair. It was like Inuyasha's but better, since I've had it combed and brushed for almost every day of my life. I heard small footsteps again and I my eyes fell upon two more females as they too took their time walking past me also. I observed this three more times before I heard Kagome as she stood close to the door saying farewells to those inside.

I turned towards the opening and waited for her to exit.


	52. Chapter 52

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

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Chapter 52

Inuyasha somehow managed not to let his whole weight fall unto me until I was kissing him back. Now he was rubbing his cock over mine as he got it to wake up from its brief sleep. I rolled over, taking him with me and placing him on the bottom. I pulled my face from his and the rest of me from his arms as I went down on him. I pushed his legs apart before I lowered my head to kiss his wet penis.

Erotic words moved through my head as I looked down at him wanting and waiting for me to suck him into my mouth, but nothing passed my lips but my tongue. I licked him clean by starting at the top and working my way down to his white hair covered pouch. I kissed under the head as I moved my way back up the first time, the second time and the third time. I used my whole tongue to lick the cum from his skin. I then licked off the saliva that I left behind and kissed him again along the shaft of his cock.

My hands had moved to his stomach where they kneading his skin under my fingertips. I flatted the palm of my hand to his body every time I felt a shiver starting to move through him. I enjoyed it almost as much as he did. When I made it back to the head he was leaking again. I slipped it into my mouth and sucked and licked and sucked at it some more before looking up at him.

His eyes were tightly closed, his fingers had dung into the mats and I was surprised that I hadn't heard his heavy breathing until now. I prepared myself to be swallowing his cum soon as I engulfed as much of his cock as I could and brought my hands down to cover the rest of him. I moved them with my mouth as I went up and down.

I didn't have to wait long to feel Inuyasha pushing his hips up to meet me. I felt the strain in his legs as it started to move to where I was. I opened my grip a little as he got bigger and I pushed him further back into my mouth and swallowed repeatedly to first massage the head of his cock, then to actually swallow his cum as he came. My eyes were closed as I concentrated on not choking. I felt the tears running down my face and my grip moved from the base of his cock to his hips as I waited for him to finish.

I fell back and inhaled deeply after I pulled myself off of his penis. It felt good to fill my lungs with air again. I sat up and then crawled over his body to look into his face. I saw his golden eyes looking back at me as his hand touched my face to wipe my cheek before he moved his fingers backwards into my hair. As I saw his eyes glistening with the glow of enjoyment shining from his features it made me think that making him like this, was as good as breathing was to me a moment ago. I bent forward and kissed him happily.

"Did I make you happy?" I asked him to make him tell me as I pulled back.

"You always make me happy," Inuyasha answered. His hand continued to move through my hair until it ended at the back of my neck. "Are you ok? I didn't hurt you did I?" he asked with some concern in his eyes and voice.

"No," I said as I shook my head. "You didn't hurt me," I reassured him. I felt him as he pulled my face closer to his. I thought that we were going to kiss but we didn't. Our foreheads touched before I was pulled into a strong hug.

"I love you Miroku," he told me. I reached my hands up from my side to hold on to him when I heard that. I kissed his shoulder and he held him tighter.

"I love you too Inuyasha," I told him in return. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer still. We held each other and just stayed quiet for a while.

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_We were going to take a bath. That was the plan. That is what we agreed on. So why were we just standing here looking at the steam rising up from the heated pool that was next to a slightly warmed stream? _This thought amazing ran through both their minds at the same time, all be it not exactly in the same order.

As each thought of lifting a finger to start getting undressed, a remembered fact or likely outcome from them getting undressed, stopped them from actually moving. In Sesshomaru's mind he had already taken her with a bad and bloody ending. In Kagome's mind she had already cried out his name more times than she could count and all she saw him doing was licking and kissing her. It wasn't so much as being afraid of that happening to her, as much as she got lost watching the very x-rated movie going through her head.

The smell of Kagome's body as it went through the mental stages of being aroused and seduced made up Sesshomaru's mind for him. He turns to face her and sees that the shivers moving over her skin weren't from the cold.

Sesshomaru allowed his detached attitude to slip away as he reached out for her shoulders. As he turned Kagome to face him, he kissed her forehead, then her cheek before kissing her lips and staying there for a while as he slipped his tongue through her parted lips.

Kagome reached her arms up to his shoulders and then around his neck as she pulled herself closer. Most of the reasons why she delayed in getting undressed faded into what she was now doing, until a new thought came to mind. That last one she tried to push aside thinking it didn't need to be worried about, but as the idea of trying to stop Sesshomaru, when he couldn't stop himself, added itself to her last worrying thought she started to turn her head and push him away.

A shocked Sesshomaru looked down at her as he tried to understand why she was trying to step backwards out of his embraced. _She's scared, _was the only answer that he could come up with.

"Kagome?" he asked her with as much calm as he could muster with the feeling of hurt surprisingly heavy in his chest.

"We can't," she told him. "We don't have the formula and I won't be able to stop you if you can't stop yourself," Kagome said as she continued to pull away.

Sesshomaru couldn't fault her for her fear of such a situation, but she wasn't going to be in danger tonight.

"You do not need to be afraid," he told Kagome as he pulled her closer. Kagome felt his lips on her forehead before she looked up at Sesshomaru again. _He knows what he's doing, he knows what he's doing_, kept repeating in her head as his lips came closer to hers and she gave up thinking of anything else other than the kiss itself.

Sesshomaru felt Kagome's arms as they once again held him around his neck. He pulled her closer until he could feel her heart beating rapidly in her chest. He again told himself to curb the beast inside as he started to slip his hand under her clothing.

When he got stuck and Kagome began to fear for the existence of her jacket and other pieces of clothing, she stepped back and took them off as she looked at Sesshomaru in his very aroused form with eyes that hadn't been changed by the formula.

He was now taller and was broader across his chest. His eyes were so red she almost expected them to drip blood. His face was the same as what she saw the night before, but it seemed to put her at ease which she didn't understand. The fact that he had changed in such a way and that they didn't have the formula should have been a very scary thing.

Kagome's coat had already been discarded and her pants were now lying on top of it. With her thighs together she gripped the bottom of her shirt and pulled it over her head. Without thinking Kagome crossed her arms over her pink bra and her hands grasped her upper arms due to the cold night air. The hold she had on herself loosened as she watched Sesshomaru as he now stripped for her, but he didn't stop until the only thing seen covering his form was hair.

_Somehow he manages to still glow,_ Kagome thought to herself as he stepped closer to her. The closer he got the less she noticed the cold and the more she started to believe that he wouldn't do anything to hurt her. _We could just do what we did at the end of the last time,_ she told herself before she started to feel the heat from his out stretched hand.

The warmth from Sesshomaru's hand touched and heated Kagome's face before his fingers actually caressed her skin. He touched her cheek with one hand as the other settled on her shoulder. His hand continued down her neck until it reached the strap of her bra.

"Is it alright for this to get wet?" Sesshomaru asked Kagome with a deeper voice than the she heard a few moments before as he slid his fingers under the strap and moved down into the cup.

"Ha," Kagome breathed as her nipple hardened under his moving fingers.

"Is that a yes?" he asked as his other hand moved up from her waist, where it had fallen to, to push the other cup out of the way of his hand as it too paid some attention to her other breast.

"No," Kagome said as she shook her head. "I meant it shouldn't get wet," she explained as she looked into his eyes. Sesshomaru's right hand mimicked his left and pushed the bra up over her breast and kept going until he lifted it off of her and slid it along her hair until he dropped it at their feet.

"And this?" he asked as his hands held her waist before sliding downwards this time to the waist band of her matching pink panties.

"Those have to come off too," Kagome said after he started to pull them lower. As he knelt down in front of her to get them from under her feet, she placed her hands on his shoulders as she trembled with him being so close to her now naked body.

"AH!" she shouted as Sesshomaru swept her off her feet and walked with her in his arms over to the hot spring's pool. Kagome's hands were still around his neck when he sat her down unto his lap as he himself took a seat in the hot water bringing the water up to their chests.

Sesshomaru was surprised as Kagome pulled herself up to kiss him before he was fully seated. Once again the scent of arousal coming from her had him trying to remember that they weren't going to have intercourse. He returned her kiss with passion and his hands went over her body steadily and with purpose.

Sesshomaru lifted Kagome's body up until her legs were on either side of his before he lowered her back down onto his lap again. She quickly went back to kissing him when her face got closer to his again. He opened his mouth and moaned as his member went through her legs and rubbed against the length of her opening. It was a pleasant surprise for her and she rocked her bent hips to have it rub against her clit on instinct.

Sesshomaru growled back at her movements as he held her mouth with his. With his hands on her hips he turns them back to how they were before, turning her clit up and away from his penis. Kagome kept her eyes closed as she tried rocking this way against him. When the itch became too much for her she started to bend her hips again to have it rub against his hot skin.

Kagome didn't see what Sesshomaru saw. He looked at her with her eyes closed, with wet hair touching her shoulders as she moved back and forth over his lower hard self. He watched his mokomoko as it traveled up her body and ran over her breasts to go around her back to drape over her arm. Nor did she understand what was going through his mind. He swore he felt every pore of her skin as she moved over his flesh. The slick wetness, the warm folds and he couldn't help but remember what laid just beyond. She didn't hear what he was hearing either. Her moaning made his heart ache to hear more and the more he heard the more he wanted to make it louder. He wanted to hear her call his name breathlessly. He wanted to hear her voice cry out as she came.

He kissed her again and pulled her close to stop her from rubbing any more on his hard member. Kagome clung to him until she felt herself being made to stand. Sesshomaru turned her back to him as he moved his mokomoko out of the way so their bodies could touch skin to skin as much as possible. Sesshomaru kissed her along her neck to her upper back as he let his penis rise up between her legs to lay against her vagina. He rubbed her nipples and licked her skin as she pressed back against him. Soon he started to move back and forth between her legs.

The warmth was there, her smooth skin was ever present but something was missing. Sesshomaru held both of Kagome's hands in one of his and moved her over to the shore, with his other hand holding her around the waist. He placed her palms on the grass as he bent over her body and moved his mouth next to her ear.

"Close your legs Kagome," he whispered before he licked her ear on his way to her back. Kagome closed her legs as she was told and she felt his penis as it moved up closer to her pussy and against her clit and the need to rock came back to her. She started moving on her on before she was stopped by Sesshomaru's hands as he held her still as he started to move back and forth between her legs himself.

The long stokes at first had them both marveling at the feelings they received, until they wanted more and started to move faster. They had more heat than what they needed. Sesshomaru's hot skin, Kagome's hot body and the heat of the spring had them dripping sweat which soaked their hair as the thought of nothing other than coming to the anticipated end filled their minds.

Kagome's chest hovered over the ground as she was rocked back and forth. Her nipples and breasts sent sensations through her body as they rubbed and hit the grass, bringing her closer to her climax. All she could think of was Sesshomaru as she started to get close. His name started to slip out.

"Sesshomaru," she began with a whisper. Then it got louder and longer and her thighs gripped tighter. Sesshomaru felt the shivers moving through her. Her cries made his movements faster; the sound of his name brought him closer to his own edge. He leaned over her back and wrapped his arms around her upper body and breasts as he held her and pulled her against him again and again until they both came and shook against each other in their own way.

Kagome didn't move and Sesshomaru didn't make her until he became concerned about his weight on her smaller frame. He lifted her as he moved back to the seat in the pool and sat her down next to him. Kagome didn't want to sit next to him and she moved her tired body to straddle his again. She laid her head against his chest as she enclosed her arms around him and just sat there.

Sesshomaru held her close as he kissed the top of her head before he sat back and waited for her to regain her strength. Kagome felt happy and tired and excited at the same time. It wasn't what they had done before but she liked it very much. This had her wondering how many other ways there were to be with someone.

Kagome blinked a few times as she let herself feel as much as she could of the things around her. She felt the slight current moving around them that reminded her of the bath tubs back at Sesshomaru's home. She enjoyed the beating of his heart just to the right of her cheek and as she sank mentally into the water and closer to him she realized that his tail was wrapped around her thigh. She wondered how long it had been there. She lifted her head slightly and looked up at him with the starry night sky above his head.

His face was back to normal and she was almost sad that it wasn't the same face that she saw when they were making love, but she knew it was him and in time she wouldn't even notice she told herself. Sesshomaru felt her head move and her eyes looking at him. He closed his eyes and pushed his yōkai out to check for any threats and to let them know to leave the area all at once. When he didn't sense anything and was sure that there were no threats, Sesshomaru opened his eyes and to look down at Kagome.

Kagome smiled up at him and he couldn't stop from smiling back. Kagome's heart paused before she reached up and gave him a short peck on the lips.

"I love you," she told him as she sat back down. She didn't lay on him again but sat back on his legs looking at him with the water flowing between them. Sesshomaru looked at her and thought over her very candid statement. He raised a hand from the waters and touched her cheek with his fingers as he looked into her shining blue eyes.

"Are you ready to leave?" he asked her. His hand moved to her shoulder then down her arm before holding her hand under water.

"Yeah," she answered happily as she pushed herself off and moved to leave with him still holding her hand. She hadn't expected him to say that he loved her back. That is what his smile meant. She was the one answering him she thought pleasantly as she made her way towards where she remembered dropping her clothes. The further she walked away from Sesshomaru the more she felt his tail sliding from around her leg until it was completely gone.

As the heat from the water started to wear off she realized that she should have brought a towel. Kagome used her shirt to dry off as much as she could before putting back on her bra and panties. She then slipped into her jeans before putting on her jacket. This would keep her warm until she got back to the hut.

Kagome held her shirt in one hand as she turned to look around for Sesshomaru. She found him looking at her fully dressed. She was sure he had been dressed for a long time from how he looked standing next to the boulders with a mostly dry tail laid over his shoulder. Sesshomaru walked over to her and extended his hand for her and she smiled as she took his hand before pulling him towards the rocks that would let them cross and the stream dryly.

Sesshomaru quietly allowed her to lead him and he glanced at her constantly to make sure that she didn't trip in the dark, or to watch her hair as it dried, or just to see her happy face. Once they were on the other side of the stream and walking into the trees again, the nightly silence was broken by her voice as she started to talk about her friend that she visited. He listened to everything she said without hearing anything.

Sesshomaru was enjoying hearing her voice again. It seemed that she didn't talk as much as he first thought she did. Maybe she was just nervous when she was taking care of him and that is why she talked so much, but now he liked hearing it. Kagome was delighted when he asked her questions about what she was telling him and was more than happy to answer them. It had gotten easier to talk to him and that fact didn't pass her unnoticed.

They saw the hut to their right as they came out from the trees and they kept on talking. They held hands until Sesshomaru opened the door to let Kagome pass in first. He then walked in behind of her and closed it properly before walking over to where she placed the jar that held the formula. They had agreed at some point on their walk back that he would add his blood to one of the bottles so Kagome could have it ready her for the next time. Neither one said that the next time would be that night, but Sesshomaru was going to have it ready all the same.

He walked pass Kagome, as she sat next to fire sharing out what was left of lunch for dinner, to wash the measuring plate with some water from the bucket before returning it to the jar. Sesshomaru pocketed the bottle in his sleeve before he sat next to Kagome to eat dinner. He waited for her to finish pouring the tea, so he could have a sip. It was good and he motioned for her to pour him some more.

They were quite as they started eating and Sesshomaru couldn't help noticing Kagome as she ate the red paste from Masami with her meat mostly.

"Can we sit outside after dinner before going to sleep?" Kagome asked him. Sesshomaru looked up from his bowl. She slowly pulled the chopsticks out of her mouth, after her last bite that she had quickly placed into her mouth, as she now waited for him to answer.

"Are you going to read one of your school books?" Sesshomaru asked her with mental interest.

"I wasn't planning to," she answered him. Kagome wondered where that came from as she placed some more rice in her mouth. The thought of leaning against him with a blanket covering them out in the cold night air soon occupied her mind instead.

"I don't see why not," Sesshomaru said breaking into her thoughts.

"Great. You can take the mats out after dinner while I get the blanket," she told him as she put down her chopsticks to reach for her cup of tea. Sesshomaru noticed the command, but didn't think it was worth bringing to anyone's attention. The meal was a bit dryer than it was the first time he had it, but considering it was close to the fire the whole time they were gone, it was to be expected. He drained the last of the tea from his cup before reaching inside his sleeve for the small bottle. He placed it next to Kagome before standing to gather the mats.

When he passed her on his way outside he saw that it was already missing from where he left it. Kagome held it in her hand until Sesshomaru was outside. She finished eating and quickly retrieved the blanket so she wouldn't keep him waiting. But as she was about to step outside in her jeans and her new dryer shirt, she changed her mind. She walked to where her bag had now been placed and dropped the blanket next to it as she dug though her things until she found her pajamas. She got undressed and placed the bottle on to top of the clothes before getting dressed in the pajamas and going outside to sit next to Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru was listening to the night creatures and the sounds they made while he waited for Kagome. He was particularly aware of her movements around the hut that was just behind his head. She moved to the opening to come outside then went back. He believed that she had forgotten something, but could only guess at what it could be. Perhaps she was going to read something after all. He heard the door as it slid open and then close again before the soft sounds of her feet, as she quickly made her way over to him, were now heard.

As Kagome passed into Sesshomaru's line of sight, his eyes followed her as she sat next to him and opened the blanket to cover both of them. Sesshomaru helped to spread it out and to tuck it around Kagome's form before sitting back against the wall. He felt her settle into his side and he moved his arm to fit around her waist to help keep her warm and close as they looked up at the moon, the stars and a passing owl.


	53. Chapter 53

Once again - I own nothing but my 'sick little ideas'. I would never be cleaver enough to come up with a girl going through a well to 500 years in the pass and meeting up with demons and a magical jewel. I'm too grounded for that.

Now run ahead and enjoy the chapter.

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Chapter 53

"Miroku, look out!" Inuyasha shouted just in time for me to avoid being tagged by Shippo.

"You can't be up there!" Shippo shouted to Inuyasha as he stood above them in a tree.

"Says who?" he challenged.

"How are we suppose to tag you if you're all the way up there?" the young fox yelled at him.

"It's not my fault if you can't reach me," Inuyasha shouted down at him before sticking out his tongue.

"We should play this game inside," Shippo told Inuyasha.

"And why should we play inside?" Inuyasha asked him as he crouched down on the branch.

Shippo was prepared for this question. "It's too dark for Miroku and Rin to see. It's too easy to tag them," he offered as one of his reasons and waited to see if it would work.

"So that just makes it easier to win," Inuyasha grinned back at him. That grin started to die as he saw the look on Miroku's face.

"So you have to cheat to win?" Shippo shot back at him with arms crossed. Inuyasha looked at the other two to see them with the same pose looking up at him.

"Fine!" he shouted as he jumped down from the tree and walked away. All three of them watched as he stomped inside before following him. They found him waiting for them in the Dojo. They figured it was the only other place left for him to be other than the hallway when they didn't find him there. Inuyasha could have given up playing with them completely and could have gone to his room, but he wanted to do something. His bones seemed restless.

He was leaning against the far wall of the Dojo as they walked in. He wore a white shirt with long wide sleeves that was tucked into the hakama of his fire rat kimono. One of his bare feet was pressed up against the wall while his head was bent and his arms were crossed over his chest.

When he knew that everyone was in the room he raised his head and looked at the three of them. The wicked smile he couldn't keep off his face provided the reactions he expected. Rin just looked on not knowing what it could mean while Miroku and Shippo had their own versions of fear or excitement sliding across their faces.

"I'm it and I'm going to count to ten before I'll come and find you. There are no pairs in this game. I'll show you I can win without cheating," Inuyasha announced as he pushed off from the wall with the help of his foot. "You have anything to say against that?" he asked as he leaned over Shippo.

"No," Shippo said without stammering as he shook his head.

"Fine then," Inuyasha said as he waved a hand up into the air as he turned his back to them.

"Iti, ni, san," his ears swiveled as he heard them starting to run out of the room, but he only heard the two smaller set of feet leave the room. "Si, go," Inuyasha counted as he turned around to see Miroku standing by the door way. "Roku, siti," he said as he raised an eyebrow to look at his lover looking back at him.

"Tell the younger ones to get ready for dinner when you find them and look for me last," Miroku told him before he seemed to melt backwards into the darker hallway. Inuyasha's grin became a full fledged smile that covered his face before he raised his voice a little louder.

"Hati, ku, ZYUU!" he shouted out the last number as he stepped from the Dojo. He was going to enjoy the short hunt before calming his prize, where ever he found him.

The one to be found first was Rin, she was hiding in the library and the possessive smell of Sesshomaru almost caused him to miss her scent. He opened the door and scanned the room for her small figure. When he didn't see it, he crouched down to the floor and searched for her scent trial and followed it over to a chair that was in front of a closed window.

"AHh…" she squealed before giggling as Inuyasha caught her and picked her up from her hiding place. "That was fun. Can I hide again?" Rin asked Inuyasha as he placed her to stand.

"No it's getting late. We'll play again tomorrow. Go get ready for dinner," he told her as he turned her towards the door.

"Ok," she said before skipping from the room. Inuyasha stood in the library and realized that it wasn't just Sesshomaru's scent that was heavy in the room. Kagome's was there too. He was about to get loss in his thoughts when he heard something and he turned his head towards the open door. His ears flexed at the top of his head as he tried to recognize what made the sound and where it came from. He heard the soft pattering of feet and knew that they belonged to Rin when he heard the echo he almost dismissed it until he realized that it wasn't an echo. It was Shippo. He ran from the room to look at the staircase to see the orange fox demon walking behind of Rin.

"I didn't think you would make it this easy for me," he said to Shippo who heard him and froze on the steps before running past Rin and up to the second floor. Inuyasha was right behind him as he jumped from the first floor to the fifth step, to the railing, to the top step before stepping onto the second floor.

Up here the kitsune's scent was everywhere. Inuyasha stood for a moment as he searched for the newest scent trail before running down the hallway to his left. He followed it left again until he was brought to a stop by conflicting smells. It appeared to Inuyasha after a few strong sniffs that Shippo had criss-crossed his own trail a number of times.

After crawling around for what seemed like way too long and four false leads, he found a clear trial that lead to Shippo who was now hiding on the balcony in his and Miroku's room. He almost flew away, but Inuyasha was able to catch him by the tail before he was able to shape shift.

"Game's over Shippo," he informed the orange ball of fur that was hanging from its tail that Inuyasha held a firm grip on.

"You can put me down now," Shippo shot back from his less than welcomed position.

"Sure," Inuyasha said before dropping him unto the group of pillows that Miroku had placed out there when it was still warm enough for them to watch the sun rise together. "Time to for you to get ready for dinner," he told him as he walked away.

"Hey," Shippo said after he dug himself out of the pile of silk. Inuyasha stood still before turning back to him. Shippo took a step back as Inuyasha walked back towards him. He didn't think Inuyasha would actually stop because he told him too. He reserved such obedience for just about anyone other than him.

"Did you catch Miroku yet?" Shippo quickly piped up before Inuyasha looked past him and out into the garden. Relief took over Shippo's face as he realized that it was something else that had caught his attention. When Inuyasha jumped up unto the railing and looked down into the garden below. He tried to see what Inuyasha did, but he didn't see anything that wasn't suppose to be there.

"Go get ready for dinner," Inuyasha told him again before he jumped down and ran to the other side of the garden. He ran around the house and jumped the wall he saw in his path before he landed into to another garden. This one grew different flowers and more trees than the one he just came from. He was sure Miroku passed through here. Inuyasha stayed to make sure that he wasn't still there as he slowly walked over the grass. His ears were swiveling in every direction hoping to catch anything to let him know that Miroku was still there or close by.

His shadow moved through and into the ones cast by the trees in the garden. He looked intently into the dark coves for the eyes he wanted to see. Inuyasha stood still as he felt the wind building around him. He closed his eyes and relied on his nose and ears as waited for something new.

**THERE.**

The faint ring might as well have been Miroku telling him where he was for how clear he heard it. Inuyasha's eyes snapped open and he rushed in the direction where he heard Miroku's earrings hitting against each other. Inuyasha moved behind a bush to find Miroku sitting on a bench with his eyes closed.

He slid his feet over the grass once again as he got closer to the monk that he believed was meditating. The cold that hung in the air added to his awareness of the man sitting before him as he came closer.

"Inuyasha," was quietly and slowly breathed from between Miroku's lips before his body shifted and he opened his eyes to look up at the one he called. The grin came back to Inuyasha's lips as his eyes darkened to almost honey brown in color as he descended unto Miroku.

Miroku knew this was coming and that is why he gave Inuyasha the task of telling the children to get ready for dinner and why he found this hidden corner of a garden, so they wouldn't be easily heard. They indulged in the heat of each other's hands. Their lips pressed and pushed against each other as their tongues fought for access to the other's mouth. Inuyasha held Miroku's head in his hands as Miroku cling to Inuyasha's shirt, digging down to his skin with his human fingers. Inuyasha pressed his body's into Miroku's as he pushed him backwards into on the back of the bench.

As Miroku kept him close and continued the assault on his mouth, Inuyasha reached his hands down to Miroku's ankles and slid his finger tips up against his skin, over his knees and across his thighs. Inuyasha then got to work freeing Miroku's cock from his fundoshi as his own penis now strained to be let loose.

"What do you want Inuyasha?" Miroku asked between labored breaths now that Inuyasha was strongly stroking his cock. Inuyasha's mouth had moved away a moment ago to kiss and suck at the skin on his neck. Inuyasha moved his mouth back up to Miroku's chin before quickly calming his lips again.

"You," he breathed to him a moment later. "I want you," his kisses him. "On this bench," he says after sucking on Miroku's tongue. "Ah," Inuyasha moans as his cock was pressed into the stone of the bench that was just mentioned. His mind is brought back to the one in front of him as Miroku ran his hands though his hair as he laid his head on his chest. Inuyasha lifted his head that now held red rimmed eyes. He felt the shiver that moved through Miroku's frame as he looked back at him. "Take me," Inuyasha was able to say as his arms left Miroku's body to pull at the himo holding his hakama.

Soon Inuyasha stood in front of Miroku naked with his light skin and silver hair completely at odds with the darkness around him. Miroku was very aware of how Inuyasha saw him. His robe had been pulled up to his waist exposing his limbs and groin. Inuyasha had pulled aside his fundoshi, to purposely caress his penis which now stood upright in front of him waiting for the heat of his demon lover's body.

Lips came into contact again as Inuyasha went to Miroku. Miroku soon felt Inuyasha as he seemed to crowd in around him. With a few exploring movements of his hands, Miroku realizes that Inuyasha had placed his feet on the beach on either side of his hips. Miroku moaned into their mouths as his cock now felt Inuyasha's body as it hovered over him, occasionally brushing against the head of his penis. He held Inuyasha's cock and stroked it a few times before taking his cum to his entrance and rubbing it over the opening. Miroku's hand then covered his own cock, that wasn't lacking any pre-cum of its own and took that also to Inuyasha.

What was spread over Miroku's fingers was slowly worked into him and Inuyasha moaned into Miroku's mouth as he pressed their cocks together while leaning into him. Inuyasha gripped the iron backrest of the bench as Miroku widened him. The pain was still there and will always be there, but he had learned how to find the want and pleasure that it produced also.

"AH!" he shouted in surprise as Miroku's fingers in unison moved over that part of him on the inside. As much as he moved away from it, his body tried to follow those fingers to feel it again.

"Miroku, fuck me," Inuyasha told him as his cock once again started to dribble pre-cum unto himself.

"Are you truly ready?" Miroku asked to be completely sure with his fingers coated and ready to enter Inuyasha again. He didn't wait for an answer as he slipped them inside and pushed in further to have Inuyasha bend his head backwards with his mouth open.

Miroku placed a hand on Inuyasha's back as he lowered his head to kiss his chest and suck on a tempting nipple.

"Yes, now," Inuyasha said when he was able to speak again. Miroku guided his penis to Inuyasha's opening before pushing deep inside as he catches Inuyasha's mouth in a sound sealing kiss. Miroku pulls him down and Inuyasha sinks further unto his lap impaling himself more. Inuyasha's cock trembled with the need for release as Miroku's became comfortable inside of him.

Inuyasha started to rock to make Miroku want more. His hands moved closer to Miroku's neck, as they still held the iron railing. Inuyasha didn't want to hurt him when he had no time to heal. With his face pressed against Inuyasha's chest, Miroku rocked against his movements. They created distance between their bodies before they came back together again.

They moaned and cried and moved faster. As they came closer to coming they held on to each other. Miroku held Inuyasha around his waist and Inuyasha held Miroku's head to his chest. The heat and pressure of Miroku's waist and chest on his cock had Inuyasha convinced that he would be coming first if not soon.

Miroku came first and he gripped his arms around Inuyasha as his world exploded. His fingers dug into Inuyasha's skin as his hips pumped faster as he shot off his load into Inuyasha's willing body. A domino effect went off in Inuyasha's head. The pressure of their bodies on his trapped cock, the pounding that Miroku was giving his ass and the smell of blood on the air all laid their hands on him and pushed over the edge causing his mind to spin. He wasn't aware of the howl that all but sang from his lungs as he came over them both.

Slowly they pulled themselves apart which was a process of detaching hands from skin and in some places closing wounds. They looked into each other's eyes before meeting and kissing again. Inuyasha's knees now touched the bench as he pressed his full weight down onto Miroku. Their kiss ended when each sought the other's shoulder to lay their head on.

They heard a breeze pass through the leaves that were higher up on the tree which kept them from seeing the stars. As the sweat began to cool they remembered dinner. They redressed and raced to their room to bath and dress. Inuyasha was able to talk Miroku into wearing one of his Kimonos to dinner and they appeared matching as they walked into the dining room with Inuyasha wearing something mostly blood red with black trimming while Miroku was dressed in something mostly black with blood red trimming.

The meal was perfect as always. There was smoked pork with buckwheat noodles and pickled fish to go with the always present bowl of rice. There was some thinly sliced cabbage that was hot to the taste. Shippo and Rin told Miroku of how they tried to hide from Inuyasha and how they were eventually caught. They then asked and waited to hear how Inuyasha caught Miroku.

"He hasn't caught me," Miroku said in all honesty. Inuyasha looked up from his food to question that statement. "He found me, he didn't catch me," he added before placing some food into his mouth.

"Next time?" Inuyasha asked him.

"Next time," Miroku answered as he closed his eyes in preparation to drink from his cup that he now raised to his lips.

"Does this mean that Miroku won?" Rin asked before chewing on something.

"No, he didn't win," Inuyasha answered. "It just means that I still have to catch him before someone else can be it and catch everyone else."

"So when will you finish the game?" Shippo asked. He wanted to be the next one to find everyone.

"We'll finish it by the time you are finished with your lessons tomorrow," Inuyasha told him.

The meal was finished soon after and everyone got up and went to their rooms. When Inuyasha and Miroku were by themselves again, Inuyasha's eyes didn't spear a moment in turning honey colored again. This almost worried Miroku. It's not like they haven't had moments or even days when ether one of them wanted to stay skin to sticky skin with the other, but this is the first time that Inuyasha has acted in this particular way.

"Will we be seeing Masami tomorrow morning?" Miroku managed to ask before Inuyasha pulled them together and kissed him. Miroku felt Inuyasha's temperature as it rose through their clothing.

"Whatever you say," Inuyasha answered when he moved to lick along Miroku's ear. Inuyasha groped his behind possessively as they stood in the hallway. Miroku twisted and was somehow able to break free. As worrying as Inuyasha's behavior appeared a few moments ago, Miroku was now being swept up by it.

"You still have to catch me," he stated as he stepped backwards with Inuyasha slowly advancing towards him. They then dashed to the only place they both wanted to be. Miroku was in the lead as they came to a stop in their room with him standing next to the bed. His hand gripped the top feather filled sheet and pulled it with him as he walked backwards onto their balcony. Inuyasha walked unto the balcony with Miroku looking at him as he lead him back into the night once again. When he was close enough Inuyasha shot out a hand and captured Miroku's left wrist.

"Have I caught you now?" Inuyasha asked as he stepped closer.

"Yes," Miroku answered in a heat filled breath before returning the kiss that Inuyasha had given him back in the hallway. Inuyasha pulled Miroku down with him to kneel on the feather filled blanket before pushing him to lay down on his back as he covered him with his body. This time the stars saw as Inuyasha completely captured Miroku.

**# ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # **

**Iti, ni, san, si, go, roku, siti, hati, ku, zyuu** - one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

**Himo – **A type of belt that is worn under/with an obi. I think only guys wear it.


	54. Chapter 54

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

* 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 = Means that it's the same POV just a shift in time.

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Chapter 54

For the second day in a row, Inuyasha was woken up by the head guard. He hadn't even known that there were guards around until he introduced himself that first day. It seemed that Sesshomaru had left orders that he was to be kept updated on anything that happened near or around the mansion and on his lands were to be reported to him.

The first day there wasn't much to be told to Lord Inuyasha, which helped in ushering the time it took to convene the unknown and unwelcomed event to a speedy end. There was a small group of traveling monks who requested permission to travel through their lands on their way to an old temple that they seem to visit every five years. Inuyasha asked the guard if he could think of any reasons why they shouldn't be allowed to go. He said no, but he added that everyone had to receive permission to go to that temple because it was also a family tomb of sorts for yōkai that once ruled the Western Lands with few exceptions. One of them being their father, Inuyasha noted to himself. Once Inuyasha was sure that they were the ones that came every five years, he gave the guard his permission to pass on to them, believing that they knew what to not do when they got there.

The other part of the short report was about a death in the village due to a runaway horse and a thrown yōkai female of just fifteen summers. Masami was treating her and didn't find anything worst than a broken bone that would be fully healed in four days. What caused the horse to trample its keeper who was holding the reins and threw the girl who was riding it was still unknown by the time the report was given.

Today Inuyasha sat up in bed and yawned as he raked his finger nails through his hair as he tried to scratch a wondering inch.

"Come in," he said loudly to the door. Miroku stirred at his side without waking up as the guard walked into the room with his head bowed. As odd as he thought it was to see the guard bowing, he had more than gotten use to the rest of the house hold bowing to him as they passed or entered and left a room.

"What do you have to report about today Katsu?" Inuyasha asked him to have him raise his head. The guard was a wolf yōkai like Kouga. They could have been brothers Inuyasha thought when he first saw the guard. Now he thought that they could be more like father and son once he had taken in how old he really was. That, and Katsu being about a foot and half taller than Kouga didn't hurt the argument of him being able to pass Kouga's father.

"Yesterday morning Sesshomaru-sama and Kagome-sama arrived at the hut without incident," Katsu started. "A procession for a female feline yōkai on her way to her bonding passed within two miles of the mansion yesterday evening. Due to the fact that the female was in heat most of the guards kept their distance, but they were able to confirm that the procession left the area without incident." He stopped as he thought for a moment before continuing.

"The ningen monks reached the temple last night. Would you care to have a scout keep an eye on them while they are there for the next three days?" Katsu asked Inuyasha.

"Would that normally be done?" Inuyasha asked after he first thought that it wasn't needed because it was just a pile of bones, before he remembered what a pile of bones could be used for.

"Yes Inuyasha-sama," Katsu politely answered him.

"Then I do not see why we should change … that," Inuyasha paused in his reply because he realized that Katsu was looking at the squirming form next to him. "Is that all Katsu?" he asked the guard in a louder voice.

"Yes Inuyasha-sama," Katsu answered as he pulled his eyes back to the sliver haired yōkai that was staring back at him.

"Then you may leave," Inuyasha told him before he accused him of thinking things he didn't want him thinking. Things that included Miroku and the bed he was currently in.

"Yes Inuyasha-sama," he said before he bowed on his way out the door. Inuyasha fought down the feeling of possessiveness that was running rampant through his chest as it occurred to him that he didn't really know what the guard was thinking, just that it involved Miroku in some form, or he wouldn't be looking at him.

Inuyasha reached out his hand and touched Miroku's head and moved his fingers through his hair as he unintentionally woke him up.

"Why were you upset with him?" Miroku asked Inuyasha after he had opened his eyes and smiled at him.

"You were awake?" Inuyasha asked him.

"Yes, I was awake. I was trying not to bother you but I had an itch," Miroku explained as he rubbed his right eye with the palm of his hand. "Sorry," he ended as he leaned over to kiss Inuyasha's hip. "So why were you so loud near the end of the report?" Miroku decided to ask again with some different words as he started to sit up. But he changed his mind and laid back down across Inuyasha's covered lap. He warped his arms around Inuyasha's waist and appeared to be getting comfortable.

"Do you want to hear the answer to that question or do you just want to go back to sleep?" Inuyasha asked as he sat back and placed his hand on Miroku's head again.

"Whichever comes first," he answered. "But I wouldn't mind knowing why," he said before turning his head to look up at Inuyasha.

"He was looking at you," Inuyasha said after a short pause.

"He looked at me?" Miroku asked as he drew his eyebrows together.

"Yeah," Inuyasha continued as he felt he should explain why. "You were moving under the sheet when he looked at you and you were in the bed and I thought that he might be thinking of stuff I think about when I see you moving under the sheets in bed. It just made me angry that he would think that of you that way, when I was sitting next to you," he ended while looking at the door once again. Inuyasha hadn't realized that he had raised his voice throughout his explanation.

Miroku looked up at Inuyasha as he enjoyed the play of emotions as they moved over his face and into his voice.

"You do know that he could just have noticed me and wasn't thinking anything right?" Miroku asked Inuyasha after he had given him a moment to calm down.

"Yeah, I know that," Inuyasha answered. "That is why I only told him to leave."

"I don't think I've ever seen you truly jealous over me before. Next time I will have to be awake to see this captain of the guards," Miroku told him with a smile on his face.

"Do you plan on going back to your flirting ways monk?" Inuyasha asked him knowing, hoping, knowing, he was joking.

"I plan on doing no such thing," Miroku said before yawning as he stretched out over Inuyasha's lap showing off his chest and causing the sheet to slide off of his left leg to expose the long left side of his warm body. Inuyasha slowly forgot about the guard as his eyes traveled along Miroku's skin that was covered in love bits and marks that he left there. He leaned down and kissed the closet nipple before licking around its puckered surface to heal it of the red bite marks placed there hours earlier.

Miroku remembered last night as he held Inuyasha's head close to his chest as he continued to lick his nipple into a hard nub that made him want to receive the bite marks all back over again.

"Do you want to take a bath with me?" Inuyasha asked as he moved up to Miroku's lips. "There are a few other places that I would like to start healing," he continued before kissing Miroku in a very suggesting manner. Inuyasha slowly pulled back to give Miroku a moment to answer him. It took more than a moment for Miroku to catch his breath to answer Inuyasha's question.

"With such persuasion how could I not?" Miroku asked him as he began acting more like someone who was quite happy with where they were as he raised his arm up and pulled Inuyasha's face down for another kiss.

Inuyasha pushed Miroku off of his lap and onto the bed without completing breaking their kiss. Miroku didn't care where Inuyasha took him, but he realized he was now at the foot of bed, when he no longer felt the soft bedding under his head as Inuyasha pulled back from kissing him. Inuyasha now knelt between Miroku's legs as he pulled him back unto the bed. He matched their body parts up as he laid down over Miroku to resume their kiss. Everything delightfully matched as penis meet penis, belly button covered belly button, chests pressed into each other and hot lips burned hot lips.

The kiss was a wet, searching, giving, taking, licking, you-are-mine kiss that they were too happy to give as well as receive from each other.

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Her hair felt soft as I moved my fingers through the patch of hair that was combed over her forehead. I looked back out towards the horizon as I watched the sun as it continued to rise. _What will we do today?_ I asked myself as I saw the tops of the trees as they seem to lighten from the dark color of night black to the green of the day as the sun rose higher.

_I like the feel of her body pressed into my side._ I had gotten use to that feeling and warmth while we were traveling between ningen villages and battles with yōkai that held in its possession a piece of the Shikon Jewel. My little brother was rather insistent at times that I not help retrieve it, but there were occasions when he was just taking too long and the day had already been too long for Kagome.

Kagome had seemed rather impressed at how quickly I had settled the matter. I didn't think what I did was any different from what I had done before, but a small feeling of something I could only label as pride grew in my chest before it faded away with Inuyasha's voice as he once again told me that he had it under control.

He clearly did not have it under control and I wasn't going to waste my breath stating something that even he truly knew. We would have a staring contest that never proved anything before he would retrieve the shard and we would look for somewhere that was a suitable place to set up camp for the night and part of the next day while we decide on what new direction to take.

I looked down as I felt Kagome stir at my side and tightened her grip around my waist before her arms slacked again. _I guess it's time that I woke her,_ I told myself, but I my arm only moved over her shoulder to pull the blanket back into place. I shifted my mokomoko that was along her body to make sure she was completely warm before looking out towards the village as I thought of something for us to do once she awoke to our second day alone.


	55. Chapter 55

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Chapter 55

"Inuyasha," I asked as I turned my head to look at him. "Do you still write in your journal?" We were walking away from the dining room after finishing our breakfast with Rin and Shippo who had already run off to do their lessons.

Inuyasha spent the next few steps hopefully thinking back to the last time he wrote in the book that brought us together.

"I don't think that I have since you found it," he admitted.

"I would like it if you continued to write in it," I told him as I held his hand. There wasn't any point in avoiding showing affection when Kagome and Sesshomaru weren't around. All the servants knew and now even the head of the guards, that we didn't even knw existed, knew about the two of us now.

"Why?" he questioned as he held my hand tighter. "I was only writing in it for you for when I got up enough courage to confess. If you died before then I would have buried it with you," he replied in a level voice.

I walked on in silence as I saw him leaning over my dead body in a future that I hopped wouldn't happen, at least not for a very, very long time. _He looked so sad._ At least I didn't see myself being sucked into the void in my hand anymore. I raised my hand that still had the cloth and beads wrapped around it. Once in a while I got dressed without them, but then I feel like I was missing something and the next time I get dressed I find them back on again.

"Miroku?" Inuyasha said. I don't think it was it was the first time, but I couldn't remember hearing him call me before.

"Yes," I answered as I lowered my hand back to my side. He looked at me in silence as we continued to walk towards the front door. He seemingly gave up trying to figure something out as he shrugged his shoulders and turned to look at the door that was getting closer.

"Are there any questions that you want to ask Masami?" Inuyasha asked me as he let go of my hand to open the door. I watched him walk out first before I followed him down the path towards the gate before answering his question.

"Nothing much. I just wanted to meet her and maybe tell her 'thank you' for when she treated me," I started. "I'm far more interested in the questions you have for her and the answers you'll get." I smiled over at him as he started to blush.

"Come on, Masami is waiting for us," Inuyasha said as he started to walk ahead of me. I laughed to myself before trying to catch up.

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_So the younger brother will be coming to see me today._ I stood in my receiving room looking out into my garden that looked a bit too thin with most of the leaves now missing from the trees. I held the note that I received from Inuyasha-sama not too long ago. I hadn't planned on visiting anyone today and there was currently no one in my care, so I decided to wait for them here after I had my morning meal.

_They're here,_ I told myself before I heard the ringing coming from the main gate. Inuyasha-sama's note didn't tell me why he was coming, just that he was coming and that he was bringing one of his ningen friends along. The monk I treated before it seemed.

I turned around and faced the doorway as my servant walked them towards the room. I felt a passing breeze as it whirred around my sock clad feet and a little higher up my legs as it momentarily parted my kimono. As the door opened the wind died and I looked prepared to meet my young lord.

Inuyasha-sama stepped into the room first and was closely followed by his monk friend. I couldn't recall his name.

"Inuyasha-sama," I said before bowing.

"Good day Masami-sama," he said as he bowed also. I rose sooner than his friend and saw the top of his black hair covered head. I quickly summed up what I had figured out about him, physically anyway. He appeared to be between the ages of eighteen and twenty three. He was the same height as Inuyasha-sama and today, at least, he walked in with a slight lip. It may be a recent injury or a very old one that only slightly impeded his walking. I found old scars on his body when I tended to him the day we discovered Inuyasha's new ability, so either assumption could be correct without more information.

I motion to both of them to sit on their side of the table as I came forward to sit on my side. As we sat my servant poured three cups of tea before moving to sit away from the table with her back to the wall. I placed the note back under a scroll that I was reading a few moments before.

"Are you well today my lord?" I asked Inuyasha-sama to get the conversation going.

"Yes. Thank you," he said before going quite again. I then turned my attention to his friend as he thought of a way to ask me the questions that he came to ask.

"I'm sorry," the young man said before bowing again. "My name is Miroku. I am Inuyasha-sama's friend," he finished.

"That's not true," Inuyasha-sama quickly added. I looked in his direction just as Miroku-san now did. "He's my lover," he said before pausing again. "We came to find out about the turning ceremony, because we plan to be mated soon," he stated while looking right at me.

_Well, this I did not expect_. I looked in his lover's direction to see his reaction to this announcement. His expression changed from something close to shock to having a small happy smile grace his lips.

"Congratulations," I said as I bowed slightly to both of them. "Have you decided on a date for the event?" I asked Inuyasha-sama.

"We haven't gotten that far yet. We're here for information on how everything was done to make sure if we really wanted to include the turning ceremony," Inuyasha-sama explained.

His wording lead me to believe that he didn't know what took place in a normal mating ceremony, never mind one that contained a turning.

"Have you ever seen a mating ceremony my lord?" I asked him to see how much I needed to explain.

"I've never seen one, not a demon one anyway. I saw a few ningen ceremonies from time to time, but I never stayed long enough for the whole thing," Inuyasha explained. _That didn't help_. I looked down at the tea that none of us had bothered touching.

"The mating ceremony in of itself can be as simple or as elaborate as you would want it," I told them as I lifted my cup off of the table's surface. "Firstly, gifts have to be exchanged in the presence of family or who has taken the place of family for that person." I sipped some tea before continuing. "There isn't a specified set of gifts to be exchanged and the meaning of the gifts are left up to the giver and hopefully the receiver understands," I said. "Once the first receiver receives their gift, it is now up to them to deny or accept the sender's request to be mated to them. If they accept, they then pass on their own gift to the other person."

"Masami-sama," Miroku-shi said to pause my explanation. "How much time does the first receiver have before they have to send their own gift to show that they accept?" he asked.

"The longest that is allowed is a week, but there have been some cases in which more time was allowed because it was impossible for the first receiver to send or deliver their gift in the traditional period of one week," I answered. He nodded his head showing that he understand and now waited for me to continue.

"The time period of a week is given so that members of each side and anyone who they wished to attend can be contacted and arrive in time for the second part of the ceremony which would be three days later. This is when they would announce their willingness to be mated to each other. Normally after this the couple would physically mate within the next two hours, and then rejoin their guests dressed in something meant to show off their mating marks. But with the turning ceremony included an extra two days are added to the whole mating event." I drank some tea to moisten my throat.

"Unlike the mate marking, the turning will be done in public. It is considered part of the announcement of the couple to be mated to each other. A healer will be present for the ningen's welfare while a spiritual leader, who would have been there to bless the union and seek blessings from past yōkai and ningen ancestors, would now have an extra part to play. During the turning, they would be involved in moving part of the yōkai's spirit to the ningen's body while they drink each other's blood."

"Blood?" was voiced by both males at the same time.

"Yes, blood," I answered before continuing. "While a part of the spirit is moved and mixed with the ningen's, they would have had their arm cut and placed in a large bowl before them on the floor. Their blood would be mixed in this bowl and then they would be given cups of it drink. When the bowl is half full, both wounds are covered and treated while the couple continues to drink. They will drink until the bowl is empty. The ningen should have started to show characteristics like their mate and their wound should have healed before they are taken away to rest and recover. The yōkai would not need that much time to recover or rest, but they would want to be with each other and they would mark each other before they would be seen by their guests again," I finished. I sipped from my cup a few times and Mai even refilled it before they started to speak.

"Ah," the monk started, but seemed to have decided against it. He looked in Inuyasha-sama's direction for some clue of something, but he seemed to be lost in his own thoughts. I had no pressing matters so I sat there and waited. I slid my hand to the edge of the table and flexed my fingers so that the servant girl could change her kneeling position. We may be here for a while and I didn't want her legs to go numb on her.

I finished my cup and motioned for the girl to stay where she was when I saw her getting up to re-fill it. I've had my fill of it for now.

"Can a ningen drink that much blood?" Inuyasha-sama asked me. I looked at him looking back at me for a moment.

"Ningen blood no, but with it being mixed with yōkai blood, it makes it easier," I waited for a reaction, but they just waited for me to continue. "The amount of yōkai blood being swallowed by the ningen, along with the spirit being moved into their body makes it easier for them to make the blood part of their body, but there is always a chance of something going wrong. This is where the ningen's healer comes in besides making the cut into their arm. But rest assured my lord, I will be there to perform the cutting and to aid in anything pertaining to your health. For both of you," I ended.

I watched as Inuyasha-sama nodded his head at my answer. I might have explained too much, but they came to find this information. I once again waited. Instead of talking they moved to stand up with Inuyasha-sama being first.

"Thank you for your time and all the answers that you have provided for us Masami-sama," Inuyasha-sama said as he bowed slightly in my direction.

"The pleasure is all mine my lord," I said in turn as I now bowed to him and Miroku-shi. "I look forward to receiving word of your mating ceremony my lord," I said as I raised my head.

"Thank you again for all your help," Miroku-shi now said as he bowed to me. I did a slight bow to him before they turned to leave the room. Mai made it to the door just in time to let them out. I heard her feet as she tried to get ahead of them to lead my lord and his friend out and to close the door behind of them.

_That was rather eventful. So both brothers will be mating with a ningen it seems. I'm going to have to brush up on some of my old scrolls about the last turning I did and any others I'm able to fine. At least I have the blessing of one of them being male. _I was comforted with that fact as I now stood and left the room to walk down the hallway.

**# ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ #**

**Shi** - is an intermediary form of politeness between **sama **and **san. **I could use the same thing I did for Kagome, but I found myself using two different ones when I failed to find this chapter at the time, so shi will be for Maroku and kyou will be for Kagome. At least for Masami.


	56. Chapter 56

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing but my 'sick little ideas'. I would never be cleaver enough to come up with a girl going through a well to 500 years in the pass and meeting up with demons and a magical jewel. I'm too grounded for that.

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* 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 = Means that it's the same POV just a shift in time.

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Chapter 56

They had decided to stray from the path that led through the small thicket of trees that stood between the hut and the well. Sesshomaru had slowed his pace to lessen Kagome's chances of tripping over something and to draw out the time that they would spend together before actually getting somewhere. He had also been keeping track of where they had walked and he managed to guide Kagome on a twisting path that was just feet away from where they had just walked. This was to keep them near the hut or the well, where he was sure was free of any threats to her safety or other ningens that would interrupt them.

Kagome loved how she had woken up that morning. It was later than she would have liked but she was warm and seeing Sesshomaru's face looking down at her as it was bathed in morning light had kept her in high spirits for the whole day. She talked on and on about anything that came to mind about what she did or was going to do when she got back home. She also told of adventures she had with Inuyasha and the others before Sesshomaru had joined their group.

From the time they left on their walk Sesshomaru hadn't let go of Kagome's hand and he had heard every syllable she uttered but he didn't comprehend a word until he thought back on what she had said. A moment arrived where she fell silent and just walked holding his hand and tried to look everywhere but him, but she did anyway, constantly, to her annoyance and happiness. After Kagome got tired of turning red every time she found herself looking at him and Sesshomaru was looking back at her with his steady gaze, she decided to ask him somethings about himself. She mentally paused as she tried to think of a good question to ask him.

"What do you like about me?" Sesshomaru asked Kagome before she could come up with a question of her own. She turned to look at him as they came to a stop.

_What do I like about you?_ She asked herself. "A lot of things," she answered.

"Such as?" he probed. He wasn't sure he would be able to answer the question if she asked him, but he was curious to know what she thought of him since he know what others thought of him and it didn't leave much room for being liked.

"Well, you are dependable. I never have to be too worried about you because I know that you can win against anyone who challenges you and that you won't seek a fight unless you had too. At first I was frightened of you, but when I had to spend some time with you I saw that you weren't as bad as I thought you were. Then I wanted to know what else I had wrong about you. Then you just hung around and I couldn't stop thinking about you," she answered him. She hadn't even looked at Sesshomaru the whole time she was talking. Kagome still held his hand, but she was looking off in another direction.

"What do you mean by I 'hung around'?" Sesshomaru asked her. He believed it to be saying from her time, but he wasn't sure what it meant.

"Well, before I went to your home for the first time, I saw you even though you weren't there. You were like a ghost keeping me company. Weird ha?" Kagome asked as she finally turned towards him. "I think it was my mind telling me, in an odd way, that I liked you enough to miss you," she said as her voice trailed off. Kagome chewed her lower lip as she looked at Sesshomaru. She was trying to understand what she saw in his face while hoping at the same time that he didn't think of her as being a sap. After a moment Kagome stepped forward and released his hand to hold him in a hug.

She hadn't really been able to understand anything from looking at his face, except that he was possibly at a lost for a reaction since this hadn't happened to him before. So he was too busy sorting out what she had said to consider her a sap for actually saying the things she did, which she would more than gladly take at the moment.

Slowly Sesshomaru raised his arms and hugged Kagome back as the words she said created a place for themselves in his mind. He brushed her hair down with one hand and then down her back as she snuggled in closer to his body.

"When did you start to like me?" Kagome asked Sesshomaru as they stood among those trees embracing each other. She told him what she felt about him, now it was his turn she believed. Kagome had already decided that today they were going to learn a lot about each other.

"I am not sure of when I started to like you, only when I started to realize it," Sesshomaru said over her head. "It was the first time you came to my home. You wore those short 'pants' and I was annoyed without cause. Then I found you in my bath which was unexpected but not disagreeable. When I was getting dressed to take you back your room I was confused when you looked away from me. Then there was that smell you placed on yourself before we went down for lunch. I didn't like it. It was too strong, but it made me remember and appreciate your natural smell more. By the time we had dinner I knew I was happy to have you there and I knew that you would be more than just be a friend of my half-brother to me," he finished. Before he had time to really think about all that he had just told Kagome, he was pushing her away from him when he felt her shoulders shake and smelled her tears.

"What's wrong Kagome?" Sesshomaru asked her as he looked down at her face. Well he tried to look down into her face. Her head was bent as she looked downward while still holding on to him with both her hands. "Kagome?" he said once again in a softer tone to get her attention.

Kagome released one of her hands from Sesshomaru's side to reach into a pocket on her jacket for some tissue. She wiped her eyes dry and her cheeks clean of the salty tears before rubbing her nose. As she moved the tissue across her nose one last time, she looked up at him.

"Why were you crying Kagome," he asked her as his hands now moved to hold her face.

"That was so romantic," she replied while trying not to start crying again. She turned her face up to look at him with tears shining in the corner of her eyes. A small smile managed to show itself at the corner of Sesshomaru's mouth before he lowered his face to kiss her forehead, then her cheek before kissing her nose and her other cheek in turn before spending a great deal of time on her lips. The tissue was slowly released by her fingers before it fell from Kagome's hand, forgotten, as she reached for Sesshomaru again.

She clung to him as their mouths opened and the kiss started to set their skin on fire.

"MUM," came from Kagome as she pulled herself backwards. Sesshomaru looked down at her as she looked back wide eyed.

"Kagome?" Sesshomaru asked her as he now sensed something faint, like it was dying or very far away.

"AH!" Kagome now screamed as she started to pull off her jacket. "HELP ME!" she screamed at him as she tried to pull on the zipper that chose that moment to get stuck half way down.

"Help?" Sesshomaru asked as he looked on, for once not knowing what was wrong or what to do. "What's wrong?" he asked so he could help.

"There is something in my clothes. It feels like it's trying to eat me!" Kagome screamed before falling to her knees from an unseen bolt that hit her in the back and bowed her body temporary. Sesshomaru moved to kneel behind of her believing whatever it was, was on her back. He extended his claws and shredded her fluffy jacket, without taking any pleasure in it and ripped her shirt from her back as she screamed in pain from what he was trying to get at.

Sesshomaru paused as all he saw on the pale skin of her back was part of a leaf. He quickly looked around her shoulders and sides for anything else. Marks, something that moved, anything that wasn't suppose to be there in his option. He just saw the leaf. Kagome wasn't moving about or crying out anymore. Maybe it was taken away with her clothing he thought as he reached out a few of his fingers to brush the leaf away. It twitched and Kagome cried out again.

What he saw of the leaf seem to get smaller until he realized it was going into her skin. Sesshomaru reached out to grab it, but it slipped out of the reach his fingers as it went into her body.

"AAAHHH!" Kagome screamed as she clawed at the ground, breaking some of her nails and causing some of her fingers to bleed. _It_ _has to come out._ Those were the words going though Sesshomaru's head as he held his breath before cutting into Kagome's back. "AAAAAHHH!" she screamed again as the blood ran in rivulets down her sides. After going as far as he dared, to have it slip away again, Sesshomaru started to panic on the inside.

His options, he quickly thought of his options. He could take her to the well and to her home, but the faint smell he noticed was yōkai somehow and he remembered her saying they didn't have any in her time.

"AH!" she shouted again and more blood left her body. His home was too far away. Sesshomaru scooped her up and ran to the village faster than he had to run in years.

"MIKO!" he shouted as he stepped into Kaede's hut.

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I stood over the old miko as she knelt next to Kagome. The front of my kimono was covered in her blood and the smell of it irritated me more with the knowledge that I was the one that injured her to this extent. I had to hold Kagome still as the old woman made her drink something to help her bear the pain, but when that didn't work she gave Kagome something to make her sleep.

It was only when Kagome had been tightly bandaged and sleeping soundly did the old woman tell me what I needed to know.

"It be a mushi," she stated. I continued to look at her. "It is a pure spirit that most beings never see," she said before sighing. She stood and walked outside with the bucket of bloody water. The ningen girl that I had expected to see there, Kagome's friend, was absent, but as I followed the miko, I saw a bedroll laid out on the floor that held the odor of fading sickness.

"They are not normally found down here. They prefer to live in the mountains very near the top, but once in a while a few stray this far. I don't know if they choose when and how often they travel to our forest, but there haven't been any here, that I know of, for seven years," she explained. "There are many different kinds so I am unsure of which kind this one is, but there is one way to get it out of Kagome no matter what kind it maybe," she said.

She turned her back to me and I watched her as she threw the bloody water into a blocked off area. I felt the shield from where I stood and knew that it was there to protect everyone in the village from things and creatures that would be attracted to the smell of the blood. After she rinsed out the bucket with water that was standing outside the area then tossing that inside also, I could no longer smell the blood as strongly. It was a good barrier but this curious piece of knowledge didn't lengthen my patience for her that continued to shrink.

"Ye will have to get what can save her. I no longer have that kind of wood left," she said once she turned around.

"Wood?" I questioned her with a raised eyebrow.

"The smoke that comes from the burning of this tree traps the mushi and it can then be pulled away to be released or killed with the same smoke," she clarified.

"Where do I have to go to get it and how much do you need?" I asked her as I started to lift off the ground with the aid of an energy cloud that I started to form under my feet.

"Do ye know of the village named Hitachiōta. It is to the north of here and five days travel for a normal person in that direction." The miko pointed with her arm. "It's on the other side of a river and it's as far away from the ocean as we are. Ask for the local priest by the name of Yuu. He will have what ye need," she finally finished.

I erected a shield around me and choose the direction that she pointed out would take me to the town she spoke of. Hitachiōta. I had heard of it, but I had never been there. I pushed myself to cover more distance. I wasn't going to have this take any longer than it needed to be. As I smelled the blood again in the confined space of the orb I willed myself faster.

I slowed as I crossed the river and traveled for about ten miles before turning east and headed towards the coast. I scanned the horizons to my left and to my right in search of any signs of a ningen village. I spotted something to my right and stopped to look harder. I pushed the ability of my sight to make sure I wasn't chasing something I wasn't looking for. I saw a thin column of smoke, but I was too low to see the top of any buildings, if any were there at all between the trees. I turned and flew in that direction as I went higher into the sky.

I stopped again when I clearly saw the red gate of their temple and started to descend as I drew nearer. I landed at the bottom of the steps that led up to the temple. There weren't many steps since the temple seemed to have made its own little hill to sit upon. I heard footsteps behind of me and turned to see two ningen females looking at me. One appeared to be the same age as Kagome while the other looked old enough to be her mother.

They held hands and stepped back as I turned to fully face them.

"Is this Hitachiōta?" I asked them. They stepped backwards again. "Is this, or is this not Hitachiōta?" I asked in a louder voice.

"No," the younger one said as she stepped away from the other woman. "It's to the east of here. About a day's walk," she added. I was angry at myself for not getting there the first time, but at least I knew I was heading in the right direction. I turned and took off again to the east. It didn't take me long to see it at the speed I was traveling. Hitachiōta wasn't a small village. I counted over two hundred huts and buildings aside from the temple that was at the southern edge of the town.

When I touched down, it was outside one of the larger buildings on the temple's grounds. There were three men in robes cleaning where I had chosen to land, but by the time my feet touched the ground two more had arrived. I turned to the majority of them and was grateful when they didn't appear to want to fight me, but held their ground even though I was covered in dried blood.

"Is there a priest here by the name of Yuu?" I asked them.

"What business do you have with him demon?" one of them from the other group asked me. I turned in his direction. As much as I wanted to declare to him my status and name, I knew it wouldn't mean anything to him, so I gave him a name that I thought would get me to see this Yuu faster.

"Lady Keade, Keeper of The Bone Eater's Well and the Priestess of Inuyasha's Forest, has sent me here to meet with the priest Yuu to retrieve something," I explained while holding my anger back for both wasting time and for actually giving the forest that my brother was trapped in for fifty years his name like it was some kind of honor.

They all continued to look at me. I was quickly losing my patience once again when one of them stepped forward.

"I'll take you to him," he said. I waited for him to walk off and I promptly followed. He lead me to a building that was at the edge of their grounds. It stood looking at the forest with its own trees growing on the inside.

When we entered we found a few other men tending to the plants and flowers I saw covering most of the surfaces in the room. They made way for us as the man walked past them to lead me to another male who looked to be the same age as the old miko. The younger male walked up to him while I stood back. He whispered to the older ningen what I had told him and the others and what he had seen of my arrival here.

"Thank you Jiro," the older ningen told him when he stepped back before motioning him to leave.

"I am Yuu," he told me. "You didn't give your name demon?" the priest half asked me.

"I am Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western Lands, son of ,Inu no Taishō who ruled those lands before me," I told him with pride. He nodded his head. I then heard the shuffling of feet as the other males that were there left.

"What is it that you came for?" he asked after he saw that everyone had left.

"I was told that you have what would be able to capture something called a mushi. A branch or piece of wood from a certain tree who's smoke is used to accomplish this," I told him. His face became grim.

"What kind is it?" the priest asked as he moved to the back of building. I didn't believe that his hearing was still as good as it once would have been, so I followed him as I answered his question.

"I do not know what kind, but it looked like a leaf before it went into her body," I recalled for him. With some effort I tried not to see my hands as they held her down and dug into her back, covering my fingers and claws with her warm blood. I felt a shiver move down my spine before my eyes focused and I saw the old priest pulling a small bundle of wood down from a shelf. He then pulled two from among them and handed the rest to me.

"Are all of these needed?" I asked him.

"No," he answered. "You only need this much to capture the mushi and pull it from … you said it entered a girl, correct?" he asked after he showed me the size of a small twig on one of the chunks of wood.

"Yes," I answered him. He lowered he head for a moment before continuing.

"The rest are just extras for Lady Keade and any other village in that area that may need some," he finished.

"How do you kill a mushi with this?" I asked him when I recalled how the old miko didn't explain how this was done and seemed more inclined to catching it rather than killing it.

"I admit that it's unfortunate that this has happened, but they mean no harm. They are pure spirits that don't know anything of hate, revenge, anger or evil. They just need to be kept separate from humans. Killing a mushi should always be done when it can't be separated from who it has become attached to," he tried to tell me.

"You do not think that they are a danger to anyone?" I asked him as I felt the fine hairs at the back of my neck raise in anger. _How dare he imply such a thing!_

"They cannot hurt demons, so you and your kind are safe. Once you move it closer to where its home is, higher up in the mountains, it most likely will not come that far south again for years, if ever. It doesn't know of the problems that it's causing. It's just doing what it thinks it should. Besides, it's not truly causing anyone any harm. It's easily removed most of the time and anything it changed in the person it attached itself too will disappear completely in a day or two."

"Not cause anyone any harm?" I asked him with the sound of anger coloring each of my words as I stepped closer. "Tell that to my mate who I heard cry out in pain as it pushed its way into her body!" I threw at him as if it was his fault.

"Your mate is human?" the priest asked quietly from his shrunken back postion. I didn't feel the need to answer. I turned and walked out of the building that didn't have a roof. As I stepped outside I walked onto my energy cloud which tuned into an energy ball the moment before I took off into the sky and in the direction of the little village where Kagome laid hurt and in uncertain danger.

**# ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ #**

**Hitachiōta** - A real place in Japan in the area of Mito.

**Mushi** - It's a character that I took from an anime named "Mushi-shi". Mushi are things, spirits that are pure. Most of them don't seek any contact with humans. When they do, they can cause bad things to happen to the human or people around them. I made them a little less dangerous in my story.


	57. Chapter 57

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Chapter 57

I felt the world moving around me before I felt the warmth under my hands as I grabbed out for something to steady myself. The bright light that I saw when I opened my eyes caused me to close them again as I clung tightly to what I was holding on to. When I felt the movement stop I slowly opened my eyes a crack to see Sesshomaru looking down at me. _He's taking me somewhere again._ I told myself before looking around me. We were on the path that led from our hut to the village and it looked like we were heading towards the hut.

I looked back up at Sesshomaru with wider eyes waiting for him to tell me what is going on and saw the darkening sky over head. _Where did that light come from if the sun was setting?_ I turned my head and looked right into the setting sun as it continued to dip behind the distant horizon that had a clear path through the trees.

When I looked back up at Sesshomaru he was still looking down at me while holding me at least three feet off the ground.

"I think I can walk the rest of the way," I told him as I tried to push away.

"I will carry you," Sesshomaru said as he started to walk again. He hadn't carried me since I fell asleep in the library and woke up in his arms as he was taking me to my room. Back then he let me go as soon as he knew I was awake, unlike today where he was insisting on carrying me to the hut.

"I really think I can I walk to the hut," I told him as I tried to get down, but his arms held fast not giving me an inch to budge in.

"Stay still Kagome. You are injured," he said without looking down.

_Injured? _I tried to remember what happened before I blacked out. We were talking, then we were kissing, then I feel something on my back. It hurt, a lot, then nothing. A shiver went through me and I suddenly felt like I had to stay close to Sesshomaru. I turned my face into his chest as flashes of being in Keade's hut as pain burned across my back played in my mind.

I stayed quite while Sesshomaru carried me the rest of the way and into the hut. Once we were inside and he had closed the door with his foot, he spoke to me again.

"I'm going to let you stand. Please stay still and wait for me to come back for you," he said while looking down at me. I nodded my head and he started to slowly lower my feet for me to stand. I released my arms that I had around him and they flew back into place as the pain I remembered came to life. I buried my face in his chest and tried really hard not to cry out. I didn't feel him embrace me or hear any words of concern until the warmth of his hands held my shoulders.

"I'm sorry," he said as he stood there holding me. After the pain faded I slowly pushed away from his chest to avoid having the pain come back too quickly.

"I will get the sleeping bag ready for you. I will be gone for just a moment," he said as he looked down into my eyes. I nodded my head again and he let go of me slowly and waited to see if anything happened before he turned and got the sleeping bed to spread out for me to lay down on. I watched him as he rolled it out and then pull on the zipper. I tried not to laugh as he worked his hair out of it the one time it got caught, but I didn't do that good of a job and my back stabbed me for my lost of control. I bit my lip to keep from crying out and letting Sesshomaru hear me.

If Sesshomaru had noticed he didn't show it as he now laid the sleeping bag open for me. He used one of the bedrolls that weren't taken outside and made it into something of a pillow for me before he came back to brace me against his body. He started to lift me again when I held his arm away from me. I felt the muscles under his sleeve and thought that it was odd that he actually stopped when he could easily lift me whether I wanted him to or not.

"I want to walk," I told him as I held on with both my hands as I started to move forward. He walked in step with me. After four steps I started to realize that walking wasn't the problem for me, it was when I tried to take a breath. I held on to his sleeve tighter as we continued. I'm glad that he didn't try to lift me up again. I wouldn't have protested, but I still wanted to at least try to make it to the bed he made for me.

I stood over the bed when we got there and I couldn't bring myself to lie down. I stood for a while looking down at it until I felt Sesshomaru move his arms around me again and I just went limp in his arms to keep the pain away as he slowly laid me down. The pain dug its fingers into my body as my weight started to rest throughout my shoulders. I reached back up and hugged on to Sesshomaru's neck and shook my face into his chest.

"I can't lie on my back," I whispered to him through the biting fingers that dug into my upper back.

Without saying anything he started to twist my body to have me lay down on my chest. There were almost no non-indecent ways for him to lay me down that would keep him from touching my back. I forgot to blush as his hands slid from under by breasts that were under the bandage as I braced for any pain. I reached out and grabbed Sesshomaru's hand as he pulled it away and held on as my body settled into place.

"What happened?" I asked him when I couldn't think of why my back would be hurting me so much. "Were we attacked?" I asked as it was the only thing I could up with as to why I felt like I was injured.

"We weren't attacked, just you," he said as I felt him squeeze my hand. "We were among the trees, close to the well, when something entered your body," Sesshomaru said before he turned his head.

"So that is what hurt me," I said as saw it, a dark unknown, making a hole in my back for it to enter my body._ But wouldn't Sesshomaru have seen it and stopped it?_ I asked myself. I was about to ask him when I heard him starting to speak again.

"No, it didn't cause the wound on your back. I did that," he confessed. I quietly sucked in my breath when I saw his eyes as he looked down at me again. They were wet. His golden eyes twinkled and glowed from the tears that he refused to let fall.

"Sesshomaru," I said to him as I closed my eyes against the pain that moved out from back again.

"Drink this Kagome," Sesshomaru said before I opened my eyes. When I did, I saw him holding the bottle from the night before that he had placed his blood in for us. The top was already removed and the liquid looked frothy to prove that it had already been shaken. I looked from it back up to him. "It will help you heal faster," he told me. The look he had before with his wet eyes and the feeling of sadness that hung on his shoulder had been brushed aside now. His body conveyed confidence again as he held out something to help me.

I let go of his hand and reached up for it. I tilted my head back and swallowed it before resting my head down again. The ache at the back of my head returned. My eyes saw everything as they started to glow with Sesshomaru out shining them all. I laid there breathing in and out slowly as he took the empty bottle from me and replaced it with his own hand. I smiled up at him as the pain in my back started to fade like the head ache that was no longer there.

"Does your back still hurt?" he asked with a hint of concern in his voice a few minutes later. I smiled before shaking my head. I even felt like pushing my luck and started to sit up.

"I don't feel anything now. Do you think it already healed?" I asked him.

"I'll check," he told me as his hand reached out for my face. His hot fingers slide along my cheek causing a new sensation to move across my body. I saw him getting closer and I leaned into him to have our lips meet. I had to place my hands on his knees to keep myself steady as he sucked the life out of me as he energized every fiber that was in me at the same time.

"Hah," I said in surprise into his mouth when he lifted me to lay me across his lap. I slid my hands around his chest and grabbed a hold of his clothing as my lungs told me it needed air, but the rest of me just wanted to stay as connected to him as possible. My lungs won out as I pulled back to see that he was also breathing as heavily as I was. I looked into his face for a moment before resting myself against his chest. His eyes were completely red and his face had already changed shape.

I wanted to have sex with him. I wanted to feel him between my legs that he had caused to start shaking, but we had to check my back first. I leaned back from his warm body and started to untie the belt from around the well worn robe that I was now currently wearing. I felt Sesshomaru's eyes on me as he watched the cloth as it slid from my shoulders to collect around my waist. The bandage that I became aware of a few moments ago had been wrapped around my chest and held my breast up to my chest better than any sports bra I ever had.

I looked back up at him when I could bring myself to do so and he was still looking at me with desire in his eyes. I didn't want to remind him that he was suppose to be checking my back, so I just looked at him until he started to unravel the lengths of cloth from around me. I covered my breasts with my hands before leaning forward and over my legs so he could look at my back.

I closed my eyes as I felt his finger tips as they slid along my skin before he pulled away what was left covering the wound. I jerked as my eyes snapped open. _His tongue._ I felt the warmth and wetness as he slid it over where the pain was coming from before. I felt the wet trail that he left behind as he went back and forth over what seemed to be the whole upper part of my back.

"Hahh," I muttered when it was starting to feel really good and no longer like some kind of first aid. He kept this up until half my body seemed to have been switched on with wanting this new feeling to continue. I moaned as I started to think that it would be a good idea to have him lick other parts of me. When he stopped I thought of breathing normally again when I felt his fingers starting to move through my hair. Sesshomaru moved aside what little hair that still fell down my back to kiss the base of my neck. He then kissed my shoulder blade before moving slowly upwards.

I sat up slowly the higher he moved on my body as though I was being pulled by the movements of his lips. My hands didn't care to cover my breasts anymore. One laid on the floor at my side with my fingers touching the sleeping bag while the other was in my lap as I tried to stretch out my neck to keep him going. My eyelids fluttered as he moved along my jaw setting my skin on fire as he drew a line that lead right to my lips. My eye lids stayed shut as I waited to feel his lips cover my own. My breathing fell into the rhythm of getting shorter and faster with anticipation.

"Ah," I gasped as his lips reached mine. The heat of his hand completely covered one of my breasts. I arched into it as he moved his palm in circles over my nipple that was already hard and firing very erotic signals back into my body. I rubbed my thighs together as one hand reached out for something steady in a world that was starting to spin out of control.

"AAHH," I said as I jumped before pushing myself unto this hand. He had moved his hand in and up against me in one swift movement that didn't give me any warning. Now I felt his arm as he pushed my legs further apart. I had to fight some kind of built in instinct to close them again as he rubbed some very sensitive parts of me.

The hand that I had lain on the floor was now bracing itself there, pushing back against my body. My other hand had tightened and become twisted in the front of his clothing. I pulled him closer as we continued to kiss and to satisfy the need I developed to have him even closer to me.

I felt like I was losing my mind as I closed my legs on this hand again and my body started to shake. I broke the kiss and bent my head backward so I could moan freely. I was going to die again. I felt it. This felt too good for a human like me to live through, but I always found out that I did when I opened my eyes again. I felt the great wave as it started to push me towards something that fell forever. What couldn't be called words got louder and louder the closer I was drawn towards the end.

"SESSHOMARU!" The world started to get dark. The glow was fading from everything as my eyes started to close. _Maybe I will die from the pleasure today. If that is true I have to tell him._ I turned my face until I saw his red eyes. "I love yo…"

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I pulled my hand from between her legs and her warm lower lips to wipe it on my thigh before reaching up to touch her face. I gently kissed her lips before pulling her forward to look at her back. The wound was now a mix of angry red tissues that were turning into scars. I removed all the bandages and tied the robe around her before setting her back down on the sleeping bag. I then slowly untwisted her hand from the front of my kimono before I moved from her side. I found the metal teeth that closed the 'sleeping bag' and covered her up inside.

_She's safe. She is now safe._ I walked away from her, further into the hut. My body leaned back against the wall and I watched her as I sat down again. My vision got blurry and I knew why. I just looked at her as I felt tears run down my face for the first time in over two hundred years.


	58. Chapter 58

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

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Chapter 58

I looked up at the window and saw that it was snowing. It wasn't falling heavily, but the small snow pile that I saw sitting on the window ledge on the outside made me think that it must have been snowing for a while. A third of the widow had a backdrop of brilliant white as it continued to pile up behind the glass. _Glass? There was no glass in the feudal era._ I focused my eyes as I started to look around. _This was my room._ I started to sit up as I realized that I was laying on my spring bed to feel something weighing down on my left side. Before I turned my head I knew who it had to be.

I happily smiled when I saw him asleep next to me. It was almost hard to believe that someone so perfect was alive and wanted to be with me. I reached out my hand to lay it on the side of his face and slide it down to his jaw line. As I let my fingers trail down his neck I reminded myself that he wasn't perfect. He just did a very good job of looking like he was. _He is also naked._

I lifted the blanket and saw that he was truly and fully undressed. I looked at myself and saw that I was also naked as I laid next to him. I suddenly felt cold and pulled closer to his chest. In his sleep he pulled me closer still and his tail came to rest on my bare shoulder.

The weariness that I felt when I first looked at the snow came back for me and Sesshomaru's smell placed me into a welcoming dream. I fell asleep as I thought of touching his face again.

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"I have never liked the cold," Miroku told me as he held his hands around the hot cup of tea. We had opened the back wall of the room that Rin and Shippo used as a classroom to look out into a snow covered side garden. I felt the warmth of the house at my back with the light coldness of the air and snow in front of me as we watched the younger ones play in the white stuff that continued to fall.

It had been snowing since before the sun came up and we had already had our noon meal. When we had first opened the wall, the snow had been deep and reached Rin's knees when they first steeped into it, but most of it had now been tramped down to about half its original height by this time.

"I want to go out, into the forest. I'm tired of being inside for so long," I said as I looked over the stone wall that was in front of me and beyond it to the woods that looked like something should be living there whether it be a boar, a rabbit or some kind of yōkai.

"Do you want anyone to come with you, or is this outing just for you?" Miroku asked from his side of the opening.

"I was hoping for some company. If not you, then I could go with Shippo to make sure that he remembers how to track and know what he's following or what is around him," I said in his direction. I looked at him as he sat under a rather thick blanket. He must have forgotten about the coat that Kagome had gotten him, even though Rin was running around in hers a few feet away.

I walked in his direction and cut off the view he had of the children playing to gave him something new to look at. I watched as his eyes refocused to look at my face. "I rather have you come with me than the runt," I told him. I reached my hand out for his face and leaned into kiss him. I felt his breath on my lips when I heard my name being called.

"Inuyasha-sama, come play in the snow with us," Rin called again.

"Think it over," I told him as I started to step away. I took two steps backwards before I turned my back to him and jumped over to a spot that I saw was still untouched by the little ones' feet. As I landed a snow ball crashed into the earth at my feet. _They are ready it seems._ My cocky grin spread across my face as I thought of pummeling them with my own snow balls until they cried uncle.

I couched down and formed two balls before the next enemy snow ball tried to hit me. I wanted to have at least four ready to throw at once so I looked up and dodged the next income white ball that Rin aimed at me.

"My turn," I said as I stood up holding three of them in one arm while the forth was in my right hand ready to be sent flying.

"AH…" they both screamed in play as they saw me starting to take aim. They ran and I chased them around bushes and trees. They dodged one way and I would catch them on the other side. I got them with two balls each with the last ball hitting Shippo since he was more determined to try to win again. He was actually able to land one on me while I chased him.

"Ha! I won," I said over my small self proclaimed victory. I turned and saw Miroku smiling at me and that made getting my clothes wet worth it.

"I still have one left," I heard coming from Shippo's direction. Before I could turn to see him I felt something hit my head.

"OoWW!" I screamed as unexpected pain spread through my skull. I saw Rin with her hands over her mouth before I lowered my face to look at the ground. I held my head as my vision focused and I saw something laying on the snow that caught my attention. It was one of the snow balls. I picked it up and it was heavier than I expected it to be. I rubbed at something I saw sticking out of it and moved away some more of the snow to see what it could be. It was a rock. _He put rocks into the snow balls. That little worm!_

"SHIPPO!" I screamed as I turned towards him. "I'm going to get you for this!" I shouted at him. _Here I was, being nice by playing with the brat and he hits me with snow covered stones. I'm going to hang him by his tail._ "I'm going to hang you by your tail from the roof the house," I told him as I started to get closer.

"Ha, you have to catch me first," he said before sticking his tongue out at me. I jumped at him and he avoided having me land on him by leaping up into a nearby tree.

"Run Shippo," I heard Rin shout as I watched the red turf of hair on legs run down a branch before jumping to another one.

"Not fast enough," I said as I landed behind of him. "HA!" I said as I reached out and caught him by his fleeing tail. I held him as the fight he had in him died out before I jumped down to the ground and accidentally dropped him.

"AHhhooww! Watch it!" he shouted at me.

"Quit your belly aching. You aren't bleeding are you?" I asked as I looked down at him. He just glared up at me. "Back inside," I said as I started to push him forward. Rin got the hint and ran into the house ahead of us and past Miroku to stand near the middle of the room. When we got to the side of the house Shippo moved a bit faster as he jumped up and ran inside to join Rin as she looked on while Miroku and I put the walls back in place. I felt the heat returning to the room as Miroku checked to make sure everything was together correctly again.

"You two should have a warm bath before your afternoon lessons," Miroku told them before he turned around.

"Yes Miroku," Rin said with her smile before turning to leave the room with Shippo at her side. _She always does what she's told unlike some kids I knew. _I've wondered why she was ever treated the way she was before she met my brother. She still has nightmares about that time in her life. The whole camp was woken up by her screams at least three times. Most of the times I had been the one on guard duty.

The last time was a month before we killed Naroku. Rin had made her way to Sesshomaru who was sitting next to Kagome. I thought that the girl was going to go right into Kagome's arms that she held up for her, but she landed squarely on Sesshomaru's chest. She was sobbing into his clothes and he just let her. After a while he placed her to lie down in his lap and he covered her with his Mokomoko all without saying a word.

Kagome asked what could have scared her and Sesshomaru told us what he knew of her life in the village she once called her home. Her real parents had been killed by some bandits as they were traveling to see her aunt on her mother's side. This is where the survivors of the attack took her since she was on only family that Rin know she had left.

As Sesshomaru continued I felt hatred for the woman that I hope I would never meet. I just saw my own childhood as I was chased by bullies and monsters, but I at least I had my mother to run home too. That woman was her home. I only heard bits and pieces of the story after that as I sat back on the branch looking out into the night sky. There was something of her stealing fish for him and Rin being attacked by some wolves. Before I knew it the story was over and when I looked down everyone was making their way back to their sleeping rolls or were already laying down and going back to sleep.

The door closed and I was pulled back to the room in my brother's house. I turned my head and found myself looking into Miroku's face as I felt his hand moving across my body.

"I'll come if you promise to keep me warm," he said as his face got closer. I leaned in also as I raised a hand to hold the back of his head.

"Mmuummm," I moaned into his mouth before he started to pull away.

"I think I'll go get some sleep for tonight while you're at the Dojo," Miroku said as he backed away. I smiled at him as he turned and walked out the door. I closed my eyes and breathed in his scent which just made me smile even more before I left the room to find the Dojo for my combat lesson and my sensei who turned out to be the head of the guards. Something my brother forgot to tell me when we were first introduced.


	59. Chapter 59

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Chapter 59

For some reason I felt warmer now then when I was watching the children and Inuyasha play. I didn't understand it, but I enjoyed the little fact as I walked up behind Inuyasha who had stopped and was now crouched down looking at something in the snow. I stood next to him before looking down to see what it was.

"A rabbit?" I asked.

"Yea," he answered as his eyes followed a fairly fresh trail of paired feet. When we left the house, we walked out through the kitchen and I asked the cook if she could use any fresh meat. She was delighted that I asked and said that some rabbit would be nice to have. I turned on the charm without thinking but I quickly turned it off when I felt Inuyasha's gaze being less than amused. So now we were looking for rabbit or something else to kill for the kitchen.

"This way," he said before he took off at a run. I was right behind of him and my fingers, that were starting to get cold, quickly warmed up and my legs enjoyed the faster pace. Despite the night around us, the glow of the moon off of the snow made it fairly easy to see where I was going and helped me keep track of Inuyasha. I watched as he came to a dead stop in front of me and I pulled up short just behind of him. I was happy with myself for not running into him until I looked around him to see what made him stop.

There in front of us, not five miles from our new home, was a bloody battle field made up of hundreds, if not thousands, of dead human bodies. In spots there they were piled three deep. Once my eyes were able to see past the blood that covered everything, I started to see that some of them wore white sashes over their armor while the other men wore one of deep green. The snow that had fallen over them was red from soaking up their blood as they died if they didn't fall down dead at the time. We stood at the edge of the trees watching as only the wind moved out there.

I looked at Inuyasha as he raised an arm to cover his nose in an attempt to keep himself from smelling all the blood and death that was in front of us. As the wind changed and it now came from in front of us I smelt it also, but not with the intensity that he was picking it up with. I stepped around him and walked unto the battle field and looked around at the vastness of it all. I hadn't seen this many dead bodies since we fought the armies of Naroku, and even then they didn't stay on the ground bleeding for long before they turned into ashes and disappeared.

I bent down and brushed snow off of the chest of a nearby solder and looked at the coat of arms that I uncovered.

"This one has the crest of the house of Takauji," I told him as I stood in a half frozen pool of the man's blood. The crest itself I didn't recognized, but the name was written below it. I stepped over him to another poor fellow who wore a white sash. I looked at his crest after I turned him over but I didn't recognize it either. But this time there was no name written there to help me. I pulled it off and walked back to Inuyasha with it.

"Do you know this crest?" I asked as I stood next to him. He reached out with his other hand for it and looked over the colorful threads. He shook his head to answer my question before he jerked his head in another direction to show that he wanted us to leave. Inuyasha looked over the bodies on last time before he turned his back on it. It looked like he was about to run when he turned back to the carnage and walked over to nearest body and flipped it over to rip its emblem off its armor. Then he turned and ran. I was once again right behind him and we ran for a short time before he changed direction and ran a bit more.

We stopped again and this time Inuyasha sat down on one of a few rocks that had been protected from the snow fall by the low branches of the tree growing next to them. I watched him as he looked at the two crests that he now held in his hands. I walked over and sat down next to him happy to be done with the running for now since the cold air was starting to haven an effect on my lungs. I folded my legs under my body and robes to make sure I wouldn't get too cold until we started to move again.

"Do they mean something to you?" I asked as he put them away but didn't seem to be standing to leave.

"The other crest must belong to a man named Nitta Yoshisada," Inuyasha explained. "We have been getting bits of information about the two of them. Yoshisada and Takauji and another man named Go-Daigo," he continued. "It seems that Takauji wants the power and title of shōgun, and he thought this Go-Daigo would give it to him, but Go-Daigo doesn't want to because he wants Nihon to be under direct imperial rule again," Inuyasha said before he turned his head to look at me for the first time.

"Last we heard, this Go-Daigo sent Yoshisada, who fought with Takauji to bring Go-Daigo to power, to help him see things their way," he finished.

"So this is how he decided to have Takauji see things their way?" I asked no one in particular. "Do you think this Takauji or Yoshisada died back there?" I now asked Inuyasha.

"I don't know," he said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Why did you take the crests?" I asked next.

"For Sesshomaru I guess. He would want to know about the battle and this is67 proof," Inuyasha answered. "I didn't use to care what they did," Inuyasha said as he started something new. "The humans I mean. If there was a war between two houses I would just move somewhere else. But now it seems like I'm tied to the Western Lands and I'm concerned about what could change how life is lived here," he said with a quiet voice.

"Is this what you were afraid of when Sesshomaru told you that you had to be Inuyasha-_sama_ while you here?" I asked as I looked back at him.

"No," he said with more volume than his last statement. "I hadn't even thought of this stuff. I was just remembering what I had been made to do while I was here before. Lessons on manners and classes on being a proper upstanding demon and being disliked by most who crossed my path and the fake loyalty I smelt from them as they bowed to me like they were told to do," Inuyasha finished. I turned away and repositioned myself on the rock to looked up at the night sky and feeling impressed once again by the bejeweled blackness that also held the moon.

"So what are you going to do Inuyasha-_sama_?" I asked him without turning my head.

"Nothing," he answered. "There is nothing to do until Sesshomaru comes back," he breathed out. I turned my head slightly to look at him. He was now looking up into the sky and seemed a bit better than what he had slipped into earlier. I reached a hand out from the warm sleeve that I had it in and held on to his hand that was laying on his lap. I felt him as he held it and squeezed my fingers. I turned back and looked at the night sky until the time came for us to move on.

"Aren't we going to bring back something?" I asked when he told me that we were going back to the house. "Cook will not be happy," I said to lighten the mood.

"Trying to get on her good side?" he asked me with a sprinkling of jealously.

"Well she does feed us and it wouldn't be wise to make her mad," I answered back as I started to walk in the direction of the where the house was. "Besides, she has very interesting things to talk about. I want to keep hearing her stories," I added as I walked beyond a large and seemly black tree.

"What are you talking about monk?" Inuyasha asked as I heard him crushing through the snow on his way towards me.

"She told me that she had requested extra meat to be brought to the house when she was told that we were going to stay there. I didn't think anything of it, thinking it was just kitchen talk." I walked around a boulder and continued to listen to Inuyasha's footsteps that weren't that far behind of me now. "So I was polite and asked what kind. She went through the list and said that Sesshomaru liked elk the most, and thought that you would too for some reason and was surprised when you liked boar the most."

I stopped and turned towards him. He stopped a few feet from me. "I didn't remember ever getting boar at dinner or lunch I told her. She said that it wasn't served to the humans, and this made me think. Did you get a special plate of food from the kitchen?" I was trying to make it sound playful so Inuyasha wouldn't think I was upset for some reason. After all, I wasn't Shippo to fight with him over food, but from the look on this face I wasn't sure I succeeded. "She…"

"I didn't," Inuyasha interjected. "Demons can eat and live off of cooked human food, but we need to eat raw meat some times," he told me. "I don't have to eat that much since I'm hanyou but a full demon like Sesshomaru would have to eat some almost every week," he finished.

"Yes, that is what the cook said," I said as I stood there. I had learned this a day or two before I told him about Makoto. It was one of the reasons why I told him about her then. I was starting to think that I knew just about everything about him when I learned that he eats raw meat. It didn't bother me that he did it, just that I didn't know after all the time we spent traveling together, which in turn just made me feel guilty for not letting him know more about me. She was my last big secret that I hadn't told him.

"Is that one of the things you did when you spent time away from the group?" I asked him to keep from remembering her the way I last saw her.

"It wasn't the only thing, but yes. I knew I couldn't eat it in front of Kagome. The one time I tired she cooked it and said it was better for me that way. It was also another reason for the humans in the village to bully me and try to hurt me when I was younger," Inuyasha said as he stepped closer. "I hadn't thought about it being something to tell anyone for a long time," he told me as he held my shoulders.

I looked at him. I wasn't upset, at least not anymore. "It's nothing," I said in a light tone as I placed a smile on my face. I turned around and continued walking. He placed his arm around my waist and walked with me. "So you ate some of the boar that you caught the day Sesshomaru showed up at the hut with Rin?" I asked him to start a conversation for what was turning out to be a slow walk home.

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"What! What is it?" I cried out as I bolted up from my bed and out of my sleep by … my mother screaming? The first person I saw when I looked around was Sesshomaru as he sat with me under the covers. Then I heard a loud drawn in breath and turned to see mama standing inside the open door way leading into my room.

"You're naked," she breathed. Her knuckles were white as she held on to a tray looked like food it was carrying food. "Why are you naked?" she asked. "Why is he naked and in bed with you?" she asked in a louder voice.

"She's my intended mate. Why wouldn't I be in bed with her?" Sesshomaru asked her. I couldn't believe my ears. I grabbed the sheet and pulled it up over my chest before I felt my body heat raise as a blush quickly spread across my face.

"Mama, it's ok. Really," I told her when I was able to speak again. As I looked at the expression on her face I knew she didn't believe me.

"But you aren't married yet," she said to prove that she didn't believe me.

"Do you wish to see me mark her as my intended?" Sesshomaru asked in a dry way as he continued to look at my mother. Mama actually held on to the tray tighter as she saw him move his arm to hold me around the waist and pull me back towards his body and bare chest that quickly warmed my back.

"NO!" she quickly shouted. "I'll just leave breakfast here for the two of you," she said as she turned to the empty space on top of my desk. She slid the tray unto it and wiped her hands in her apron before she turned to look at us again. Sesshomaru didn't let go me and I felt like he had no wish to let me go, at least not until we were alone again.

"If you are feeling better later come down for lunch. We will be having it late today because grandpa wants to open the temple up for visits and blessings to mark the fall of the first snow and quite a few people seem to be turning up already, so Sota and I will be helping him out for a few hours," she finished before she turned and left without looking too long at Sesshomaru.

As the door closed I laid back down on my now cold pillow. I looked up at Sesshomaru as he looked back down at me before he bent for a kiss.

"Are you ok?" he asked before he kissed my cheek next.

"Yes, I'm ok," I turned my head and looked at the clock next to my bed. It was nine am. The food that mama had left behind was forgotten as I felt Sesshomaru cover half my body with his and his lips moved closer to mine before he kissed me deeply. My mind went blank too quickly about other things. It might have scared me if I cared to notice as I started to wrap my arms around him.

_He tasted so good,_ I thought when he pulled away to look down at me. _He didn't taste like anything I could put my finger on. He was kinda sweet but not like…_

"Do you want me to mark you?" he asked. I really looked back at him. _Mark me?_

"I don't understand," I confessed.

"Mark you. With a bite," he tried to explain.

"You aren't talking about a hickey are you?" I asked him as I already saw his teeth pushing their way through my skin on some part of my body. I watched my blood come out of where his teeth and fangs were still pressed into …

"I do not know what a hickey is," he said as he moved back to laying on his side next to me. "A mating mark is a bite that intended mates give each other so others know that they are promised to someone else until they are mated. Is that what you call a hickey?" he asked me without a trace of humor. I looked back at him with a feeling of slight horror. _He really wants to bite me, and it has to be deep enough to be seen three years from now._

"That is definitely not a hickey," I said as I shook my head. I watched his eyes and they looked like he was trying to come up with something to say or he was trying to understand what I was thinking. I confused him again. I became a little disappointed with myself for doing that to him.

"What," I started. "What does a mating mark look like?" I asked him. _Maybe it wasn't as bad as I was thinking. He said it was a bite mark not…_

"It's an impression of the top row of teeth on any body part that the receiver wants it. Normally a small amount of acid is used to keep the mark visible for some length of time, but only because yōkai heal so quickly. That wouldn't be need for your mark," he added as his hand moved across my face.

"You just decide on the day and what time to do this, and you meet to bite each other?" I asked thinking that I might not be able to go through with it.

"It's done while coupling," he said as his eyes followed his hand that is now moving over my chest that was above the sheet I still held to my breasts. I turned my head away. _I might be able to let him do it, if we are doing that, but I won't be able to do it to him. _This made me feel more sad and upset than him actually biting me.

"Kagome, what is wrong?" Sesshomaru asked me as I felt his fingers on my jaw and chin turning my face back to his. "Did something I say distress you?" he looked sad again.

"Would you mind it a lot if I didn't mark you?" I asked him. It sounded dumb as I said it. _Of course he would mind_. I reached up and wiped a tear from the corner of my eye before it ran down the side of my face.

"Why wouldn't you mark me?" he asked as he moved back a bit from me.

"I'm human, how hard could I bite you to leave a mark? And I don't have any of that acid thing either," I said as I felt another tear escaping from my other eye.

"Dry your eyes Kagome. You will be able to," Sesshomaru said as he softly kissed my lips. When we parted I wiped my eyes like he told me. I wasn't going to ask how. I was going to trust him like I did before. "Now go back to sleep. You still need your rest," he said. I closed my eyes and curled up closer to him. With my arm around his waist I fell back into a warm sleep.

**# ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ #**

**Go-Daigo (emperor), Ashikaga Takauji (general) and Nitta Yoshisada (general) - **are real people from history. They are from The Muromachi Period (1333 - 1568). The events I talk about took place between 1333 and 1338. Where this battle took place is part of my story and is more than likely in the wrong place. The other small bits that don't match up to the history of it are there because that is how Inuyasha understood it and I just made up some bits like the colors they wore.

**Shōgun **- Military ruler.

**Nihon** - The Japanese names for Japan are Nippon and Nihon. They are both written in Japanese using the the same kanji. Nihon is a more casual term and the most frequently used in contemporary speech.


	60. Chapter 60

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

* 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 = Means that it's the same POV just a shift in time.

* * *

Chapter 60

I stood too still as I looked into the mirror before me. Still is the wrong word. Stiffly is better. Stiffly suits how I look and feel at this moment. I saw my face, arms and legs, but they didn't seem to belong to what was covering the rest of my body. Kagome had called it a robe. I couldn't bring myself to touch it more than I needed too. It wasn't coarse to touch, I just wasn't sure what it was made from. It held warmth well, but it looked almost like it should still be on the creature it came from. Nothing like the robes I had back at my home.

I continued to look into the mirror as I tried to accept the situation. I just had to get use to it. It appeared that I would be wearing it until I got my own clothing back from Kagome's okāsan. She took my kimono when I arrived with Kagome the night before when she saw the blood it was covered in. I didn't tell her that it was Kagome's but she might not have needed me to tell her that.

I heard Kagome as she walked down the hallway to her room that I was standing in. I turned and watched the door as she opened it and came inside. The hairs on the sides of her face were still wet from when she washed it and she was wearing the new set of 'pj's' that I helped her into before she left the room. The top was a solid pink color with short sleeves while the bottom was also pink but covered in large white flowers and reached her ankles.

"I found these outside the door," she told me as she held up her hands. _More clothing,_ I assumed. "I'll help you put them on," she told me as she walked over to the bed to put them down. I watched her as she walked back to me and reached her hands out to hold the white thing that I was currently dressed in. I saw a smile on her face before the blush appeared. Her hands slowed down when they came closer to actually touching and then pulling this thing off of my skin.

I felt it glide against me as my skin was reviled to the room and Kagome's sight. I closed my eyes and smelled her scent even stronger as I tried to calm myself. The thing was pulled from my body and I stood in front of her clam on the outside while I fought down the urge to lay with her now and feel her legs around my waist.

I listened to her soft foot falls as she walked across the floor back to the bed to retrieve one of the garments and walk back towards me. I felt it slip up one arm before she moved my other arm into the next sleeve. Her hands were warmer than the cool cloth that she pulled up to my shoulders. I felt her hands as they moved up the front of my body. She moved slowly with her fingers staying in one place for a few moments before moving up a little way to pause again. As she neared my throat I started to feel the slight weight of the garment as it surrounded me.

She walked away again and I heard a sound that I had only heard once before. It was when I had opened the wa-gashithat I had received from Kagome as a present all those moons ago. Now I dared to open my eyes. I saw the shine of it as it was ripped away and knew it was the same wrapping. She was left holding something that was white and appeared folded.

"I don't want to know how she came by these," Kagome said to herself before looking in my direction. She came closer before she held it out to me. "It's underwear," she said as I took it from her. I looked at it then looked back at her. "Men don't wear fundoshi now, at least not every day. They wear these," she said before coming closer again. "This is the front," she said as she pointed to where the fabric appeared to cross over itself twice. "And you push your legs through there," she said as she pointed to the holes on either side.

I looked at the garments with doubts, but this was her world and I currently didn't have anything else. I held it out in front of me and stepped into it one leg at a time. Once it was up I adjusted myself in it and was momentarily happy with this new thing until I saw Kagome's back. I walked over to her and held her shoulders.

"Why do you turn away from me?" I asked her as I looked over the top of her head.

"I'm just not use to it," she told me. Her voice was steady.

"Use to what?" I asked her as I squeezed her shoulders.

"Seeing a guy naked, but I'll get use to it. Don't worry about it. Next time, just make me watch if you see me turning way. I'll try very hard not to turn away next time," she ended.

"I am glad," I told her as I kissed the top of her head and warped my arms around her.

"I promise, I'll really try," she said again. _That's not why I'm glad._

"Lastly you have the pants to put on," she told me a few moments later. She moved away and I let her go.

"These are like my long pants, just a little different for guys," she said as she held them up. They were black and appeared to fall straight and they looked thin. She handed them to me and she watched as I stepped into them and pulled them up. Once they were about my waist, she came forward and placed the ends of the first garment into the 'pants' and fastened it about my waist.

"There," she said as she stood back and looked at me and her handily work. "Go look in the mirror," she said when she appeared to be done. I stepped back in front of the mirror and I looked at myself. I was thankful that the 'pants' didn't cling to my legs like they did to hers and the blue of the top was very bright.

"Do you want me to brush your hair?" she asked as she came closer. I looked to my forehead and reached a hand up to pull a few strands from the back into my sight. _It did look unkept, but not now._

"First you have to eat. Then you may brush my hair if you wish," I told her when I caught her eyes in the mirror. She nodded her head and started to move about the room. I watched her as she made her bed, pulled a chair over to the bed's side and then carry the tray to the chair before sitting down on the bed.

I moved and sat down next to her in a space I'm sure she made for me. She had given no complaint of pain anywhere and she showed no fear of walking like she did when I first brought her back to the hut and I watched very closely when she picked up the tray laden with bowls and plates of food. She seemed like her old self again.

She had only slept for another hour after her okāsan left. So the food was not too cold to be eaten. It was something called a 'Western' breakfast she told me. I looked at what was on the plate as she told me what each thing was.

"I have been to the Land of Chin and I have never seen this served for breakfast," I told her when she was finish.

"The Land of Chin is now called China, and it's not from there. It's from a place a bit further west than that. It's an American breakfast," she fully explained.

"Does 'american' boarder China on its western boarder?" I asked as I thought of tasting the 'sunny side up' egg.

"Actually, it's to the east of us, across the ocean and it's called America," she answered as she took a bite of her 'toast'.

"Then why do you say Western if they are to the east?" I asked her as I now cut into the center of the egg and watched it as it burst and spilled its yellow center over the firmer white part of itself.

"They came from the west first. Them and a few other countries came from the west actually. Americans didn't know how to come from the east for a long time. In school they told us that the others tried to find a passage west from their country to come to us, but they found another land, that later became America, and they thought that they had reached here. But when they realized that they were wrong, they tried another east passage trip from their home to found us. It took them years but they made it," she finished before dipping her 'toast' into the liquid center of her own egg and biting it off.

I slowly digested the information she had just given me, almost as slowly as I digested the meal that was in front of me. I paused as I thought of men traveling for years, to consider the fact that I may like this 'Western' breakfast. The only thing I didn't like was the milk. I couldn't even move it from its place on the tray. It smelled slightly of a sick animal, an animal that I was also unfamiliar with.

I used the 'toast' to eat the egg and then licked what remained of the yellow center off of my fingers. I once again reached for something to drink but stopped myself from touching the clear tall container that held the white liquid.

"Would you rather have some tea?" Kagome asked me as I pulled my hand back.

"Yes," I said as I looked up at her. She then reached out for the tray, but I picked it up as her fingers touched its wooden surface. "You can bring the brush," I told her as I turned and walked out the door and into the hallway. I remembered the path that I had taken when I brought her here. All I had to do was retrace the very short walk that would place us in the kitchen once again. I stopped at the top of the steps and looked back for Kagome. I watched her as she closed the door before walking towards me with her brush in hand.

I tuned back around and descended the stairs.

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"Yes Inuyasha-sama. It appears that Takauji won the battle and Yoshisada fled," Katsu told Inuyasha. I continued with my very early bath and looked at the screen that blocked most of the cold air from coming into the room. I saw a bare branch slowly swaying in what little breeze that bothered to blow by it.

"Where is Yoshisada now?" Inuyasha asked him as before I poured some water over my head.

"…in the direction of Yoshino," I heard Katsu answer as I started to leave this body of warm water. I dried myself completely before rubbing the scented oil over my skin. Whether or not we went down for breakfast I wanted to have the near perfect skin that he thought I possessed. I lifted my hands and smelled the coconut and mint on my fingers. _I may rub this on him after his is finished with his bath,_ I thought before reaching for my robe, which was light blue in color, that Inuyasha had all but pushed me into the bathing room with before Katsu arrived.

I was about to step from the bathing room and walk towards where the brush and combs where on the other side of the bed, when I thought better of it. Inuyasha had already told me that he didn't want Katsu to see me. I had yet to make him truly upset at me for anything, and I didn't want to do something now that would cause him to be. But I was curious as to what Katsu looked like. I have not seen him once in the three days he had been coming to give Inuyasha the reports nor was I ever present at any of his combat lessons. I poked my head out slowly as I heard Inuyasha speaking.

"If he comes near our lands, you are to keep him from entering," Inuyasha was telling Katsu. His back was to me but now I was able to place something with the name. He was easily six feet tall. He was dressed in black leather with patches of brown and red and his black hair was pulled back and tied. It was longer than mine, but shorter than Inuyasha's. His 'uniform' reached him at the knees and his brown calves made you believe that this is what he constantly wore.

They spoke a bit more, but I didn't bother to listen to what they were saying. I pulled back into the room when I was done looking at what I could of Katsu. I leaned against the wall and heard the rest of the report before Katsu left our room.

I knew I was hiding and it felt heavy in my chest as I moved into the bedroom and sat down on the bed instead of walking towards the dresser. I turned and looked at Inuyasha as he sat up in bed looking at me. His hair was a mess and I knew he was naked under the covers.

"I'm not hiding again," I told him before standing and moving to the where the combs where. I picked up the brown one that was made from wood and pulled it through my hair with my back to him.

"What?" he asked as I heard he get out of the bed and walk towards me.

"I said I'm not hiding again," I told him. I didn't turn around. I felt shame and I knew I wasn't suppose to. _We were going to be mated. He wasn't hiding me out of shame. So why did it hurt? Why did it…_

I felt Inuyasha's hands on my shoulder as he turned me around to face him. When I saw his face I knew I was crying. I reached up a hand and wiped my face before trying to turn away from him again. I almost made it, but he held on tighter to me and made me face him.

"Explain to me what is wrong Miroku," he told me. I looked up from his chest and into his golden eyes.

"I know you didn't mean it, but I made me feel like I use to," I said.

"Feel like what?" Inuyasha asked. I turned my head, almost not telling him. I thought he didn't need to know. Then I thought that I was going to make this worst if I didn't tell him. Then I thought… I looked back at him. He looked very worried.

"Like Akio," I told him before I bowed my head.

"Akio," he all but spat at me with his distaste for the person he knew held that name. I looked at him as he let go of my shoulders and stepped back.

"You think I'm treating you like that bastard did?" he asked before quickly adding. "How?" Inuyasha asked as he turned to look back at me offended and hurt.

"You made me hide, when you told me that we never would have to," I told him. I knew it was a weak excuse, but it was the only one I had. I watched him as he stared to walk in a circle.

**- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -**

_I couldn't believe it. To think that he would compare me to that stinking piece of shit. _I stopped and looked back at Miroku. He had stopped crying but I saw the dried salt lines on his cheeks. I walked over to him and pulled him into a hug. A hug so tight he had to believe that I wanted him.

"I didn't hide you because of shame, you must know that," I told and asked him at the same time. I felt him nod his head into the crook of my neck. I felt his arms as he started wrapping them around me. "I'm sorry for making your feel like that," I told him. It never crossed my mind that he would see it that way. "Come watch me in combat class," I told Miroku. I still couldn't get over the idea of Katsu seeing Miroku in bed or in our bedroom without me wanting to skin him for looking at Miroku. But I should be able to stop myself from doing that if they met in a very, public place.

"Really?" Miroku asked.

"Yes, really," I told him. "It will be tomorrow after the noon meal," I told him. I felt him bend his head into my chest.

"Can I be here tomorrow morning?" he asked quietly as he arms pulled me closer.

"Sure you can be here tomorrow. Where else would you be so early in the morning?" I asked him to hide my dread. _He better not try anything._

"Why would I try anything?" Miroku asked me. _Ha? I said it out loud._

"Sorry, I didn't mean you," I told him as he started to ease out of my grip that I had him in. He looked into my face with a puzzled and thoughtful gaze.

"You meant Katsu?" he asked as he started to smile.

"Yes I meant him. You're mine and I don't like what I think when I think other people are thinking things about you," I told him. I stopped and said it again to myself before walking back to the bed. I sat down and looked at him still standing over there with the comb in one hand. "Before you say that it's all in my head, I already know that," I told him even thought I wasn't sure if he was going to say anything at all. He placed the comb back on the table he took it from and walked over to sit next to me on the bed.

I reached out and wiped away the last of the evidence that showed that I made him cry before I pulled him forward for a kiss. He pressed his hands to my chest to push me back unto the bed as he continued to kiss me. In the back of my mind I was starting to think of a way to really make it up to him and to keep him from crying over something like this again as my hands found the obi to his robe and pulled it free.

I rolled him over and knelt over his body as I kissed his lips, his chin and his neck as I moved the robe out of my way. I moved lower to his chest and kissed across it, from one nipple to the next until I had to reach into my hair for Miroku's hands. I held them at his sides as I moved down his body, over his ribs, down his stomach and around his navel. I felt his flesh quake under my tongue as I licked downwards.

My chin slid along his manhood before my lips had a chance to taste it. I kissed my way up to the very top before I sucked him in whole. The moans that were coming from his mouth fell silent at that moment. His body pushed up off of the bed and deeper into my mouth. I didn't move my mouth so he could go as far as he want to or could. I only moved my tongue over him. I pressed him up to the roof of my mouth while rubbing the underside of his cock with my tongue that would occasionally rub on the head his cock also. I felt the slimy wetness as it started to leak out of him.

"Ah, ahhh," his moaning started again and I started to moved my head. I continued to hold his hands at his sides and I had to hold on tighter as his body started to twist with the sensations that I was sending through him. I knew he was close to coming and I pulled my mouth off of him and let go of his hands as I moved away from him. I watched him as the heat died away from his skin, as his breathing slowed back down to its normal pace and the cloudiness of his lust filled eyes started to clear.

But before all the clouds of ecstasy disappeared from his mind I kissed the inside of his thigh. I then kiss his other thigh as I pushed them further apart. Miroku's cock was still hard since he hadn't come and I kissed between it and the two perfect shaped balls that hung below it. I sucked on each one in turn before pulling back on them to have the slide out through my teeth. I then went back and sucked both into my mouth at the same time. I rolled them around my mouth, against themselves and along my tongue before I let them go again.

I pushed his thighs back to pull his ass close to my lips. I kissed above it before licking my tongue down across it.

"AAahhhh," Miroku moaned for me as I sat back watching him as he puckered and push back out for more. I knelt down and pulled his body forward to lay against mine. His legs fell forward, almost touching his face, as I placed one arm around his waist and laid the other one over the back of his thighs to keep him turned up towards me.

I raked my teeth and fangs over his skin and the opening. I moved in circles and straight lines. He was shaking before I began to push my tongue inside. He seemed to open and accept me as I moved in further until I slipped over a spot that had him clamping down on my tongue. I pulled back completely and started it all back over again. Over the puckered surface, kissing and nipping at it with my teeth before pushing in again. He held me fast again as I slid over the place that made him shake.

"Oohhhhaaaa," escaped his lips and I felt it in the pit of my stomach. I left my tongue inside him and flicked it back and forth to hear him cry out louder and shake harder in my arms. I pulled back before I pushed him too far. I looked at his face that was turned sideways into the bed. I saw his mouth that was open as he breathed deeply. My eyes traveled up his body to end at where my sweet torture of him started. His cock. It bounced slightly with each breath he took and I watched the liquid drip from the tip as the scent of it already coated the back of my throat.

I was pulled forward to take it into my mouth before I could think of anything else. This wasn't play for me as I felt him scratch his nails over my legs. I wanted to taste him. I wanted to feel him hot in my mouth. I wanted to hear him say my name in a drunken, starved, lust colored voice that I knew he had in him.

"Inuyasha," he cried out. "Please," he begged me in the voice I wanted to hear. I opened my eyes and I pulled off of his cock. I pushed him back to lay on the bed. I held the underside of his knee with one hand as I rubbed the cum that had escaped my own cock along the length of it to make it an easy entry for him. I looked at Miroku looking up at me as I placed the head at the start of his opening. I pressed against it as I laid his leg over my shoulder. I moved in closer to his face. He held his bottom lip between his teeth before his mouth fell open as I popped past his entrance and slide my way down into him.

"aaaaaahhhhhhhhhh…" he wrapped his other leg around my waist and I sucked on his nipples as I waited until I could move again. I felt his walls around me as they started to loosen and knew I that I could now continue. My hands slid to the small of his back then to his waist and back again as I fucked him to a climax. His legs tightened and relaxed around me until they started to seize in place and pulled me closer to him as I felt him starting to cum. I barely saw through my own pelvic shaking orgasm as he his cock shot streams of cum over his stomach and part of my chest.

"ha, ha, ha, ha, ha," I heard coming from both of us as I found myself supported by both my hands that were on either side of Miroku's face as he looked up at me with his dreamy eyes. He reached up and kissed me and I gladly kissed him back as I lowered my body to his as I also pulled out of him.

"You are going to need another bath," I told him as I thought of him taking a bath and remembering that he just had one.

"You are coming with me this time," he said as he kissed me again and wrapped his arms around my neck. My mind clicked as it gave me the way to really apologize to Miroku for today. "I'm going to tell everyone," I told him.

"Tell everyone what?" he asked as he looked up at me satisfied.

"I'm going to tell everyone that we are to be mated when Kagome comes back," I told him. He continued to look back at me.

**# ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ #**

**Land of** **Chin** - I know that most likely it was no longer called that by the time of this 'fairytale', but since it is a fairytale and I liked how it sounded I used it. Besides, who knows when he went over there. (I may have said this before, but I'm putting this here to make sure.)


	61. Chapter 61

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

* 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 = Means that it's the same POV just a shift in time.

* * *

Chapter 61

I held his hand as I walked with him to the well. We had spent a whole day and night together in my home and now I had to tell him good bye for three weeks. I followed his sleeve up to his shoulder and watched his face as he looked straight ahead.

I looked at his hair as it flowed out behind him as he walked on. I took a long time brushing it. Not just because he asked me to, but because I wanted the moment to continue for as long as it was possible. I didn't stop until his hair shone and my arm had started to protest against any more strokes.

Sesshomaru held my hand tighter as we walked into the building that surrounded the well and waited until I had closed the door before he pulled me to his chest. As I looked up into his eyes with one hand resting on his chest, I felt like I was in an American romance book. He lowered his face to mine and I reached up to do my part in creating the kiss.

He let go of my other hand in favor of holding my waist as his other was already on my back pulling me closer to him. His breathing affected my lungs and I wrapped my arms around his neck to help him in pulling us closer.

Our lips touched and pressed and parted each other's. Our tongues didn't play with each other long. They just met and said hello and good bye at the same time. Sesshomaru pulled back and licked across my lips before imprinting the shape of his lips on my own. He kissed me softly one last time before we parted and he held my face to his chest.

"I will miss you," Sesshomaru told me. I felt his chin move across my forehead as he spoke.

"I don't want you to go," I told him and it was true. I didn't want him to leave now that he was here. Maybe if we had parted at the well on the other side it wouldn't have felt as heart breaking as it did now.

"I will come for you a day early and we can mark each other before we go back to the others if you wish," he said before kissing my forehead. I looked up at him as he eased his arms from around me and held me away from him. I nodded my head to let him know that I heard what he said. I knew if I tried to talk again I would start crying and I wasn't going to cry in front of him for this.

I watched him as he turned and walked over to the well. His white and red kimono with his long white hair seemed to light up the boxed in space. He placed a black boot unto the top of the well before he pushed himself up and jumped in. Then nothing. No sound to let you know that something happened. No sound to tell you that he left, that he jumped, that he fell. He was just gone.

I stood there hoping that he would come back for me and I would say yes to his last question. After five minutes had passed, I started to feel silly. I took a deep breath and felt better. I rubbed my arms with my hands before I turned and walked back to my house. Sota had already gone to school, mom had left for work half an hour after that and grandpa had left after breakfast to visit another shine on the other side of Tokyo. He was going to be gone for four days for some kind of reunion.

I stopped in the kitchen and picked up the brush that I placed there about fifteen minutes before. I lifted it to my face and smelled it hoping it would smell like Sesshomaru and it did. I smiled as I remembered brushing his hair again. I remembered how he would turn his head a little for me to catch every strand from root to tip without either of us saying a word.

I walked up the stairs to my room to enjoy the last 'sick' day I had off from school. I walked in and saw the clothes that Sesshomaru wore the day before sitting on my chair neatly folded. They had been folded that way since last night. We slept naked next to each other again and when the morning came, mama had brought back his cleaned kimono. The only thing he kept, and was happy to keep, was the underwear. I smiled as I reached out and touched the blue shirt.

I moved over to the bed that I hadn't made yet and sat on it. _It feels so big,_ I said to myself as looked behind of me and felt sad again that he wasn't there. I laid down and moved across the bed until my back finally hit the wall. _It didn't seem so far away before._ I pulled the sheet up a over jeans and up to my chest where I held the brush between my breast. I looked around my room and tried to remember it how it was before Sesshomaru was there.

**- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -**

"This is not what I had in mind when you told me to come to your combat lesson," I shouted over to Inuyasha as he sat on the side of the Dojo watching me and Katsu as we had a lesson of our own.

"I thought you would like sparing with someone new," he said from his safe distance away from me. I couldn't turn my head to see the look on his face as I had to pay attention to Katsu since it appeared like he was actually trying to hurt me.

Katsu was hesitant at first when Inuyasha put me in his place after they had paused for a short break. He stood with is sword as I was positioned in front of him holding my staff. I was thinking of ways to block and deflect some of the blows when he walked over to the other weapons and started to switch out the sword for a staff of his own.

I told him it was ok and not to switch out his weapon. Most people who came at us had swords most of the time anyway. He bowed and picked up the sword before he charged at me with the sword at an angle he hadn't used when he was practicing with Inuyasha.

I thought that I was doing well until he caught me across the top of my hip. I didn't bleed nor were my robes cut. He had turned the blade to have the blunt side come into contact with me. I looked at the sword, then him, as he pulled back to stand a few feet in front of me. I wasn't sure if that was going to be my only warning and the next time I was going to taste the metal on me skin or not, but I didn't feel like finding out.

I looked at Katsu and saw the enemy. The walls blended into floating pools of brown and black. No one was there but the two of us fighting to stay alive. When he came at me again I was ready. I blocked and blocked and deflected. I stepped back then forward to bring the fight to him. He blocked, he stepped back and I followed. I landed one hit before I blocked again and was pushed backwards. I tried to lean my body forward before I came to a complete stop and charged at him again once I had. I avoided the next swing of his blade and saw and opening that allowed me to trip him and hold my staff to his neck as he looked up at me.

As the vibrations from his fall were slowly forgotten by my feet, I saw the wooden floor that Katsu laid on. I felt the room around me with its four walls and I remembered Inuyasha watching us and that the captain wasn't my enemy. I pulled my staff back and stepped away from Katsu, giving him room to stand before I bowed putting an end to our unplanned class.

I turned to where I last saw Inuyasha and he was still there sitting on the mat with his legs crossed. His elbows were on his knees and his chin was in his hands as he looked at me. He looked to be thinking about something and not just watching me spar with Katsu, if he was watching at all. As I stood next to him he seemed to have come back from where his mind had wondered off too and he looked up at me before looking at Katsu.

"Done?" Inuyasha asked him as he stood up.

"Yes Inuyasha-sama," Katsu answered him.

"Fine then," he said and Katsu bowed to both of us before he turned to leave. I turned and looked at Inuyasha when he didn't bow to Katsu like I did when he was leaving.

"What's wrong?" I asked him after Katsu had left the Dojo.

"Ha?" he asked as the distant look in eyes went away again. "Nothing I'm just thinking about a few things," he said before he turned to me and smiled. He reached over and gripped the back of my head as his lips came towards my face. He kissed my lips before my forehead. I reached up to hold the arm that held my head, but he let go of me as soon as I touched his skin.

"I need to go see Masami-sama," Inuyasha said as he started to pull away.

"Huh?" I asked him since I didn't have a clue of what he was up to or thinking.

"It's nothing, I just have to ask her a few things. I'll be back in an hour or so," he told me as he walked towards the door, then out it.

I was left in the Dojo all by myself not knowing what to think.

**- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -**

For some reason Sesshomaru had spent the rest of the morning at the hut after he had left Kagome in her time. He didn't go inside, but sat on the porch and just watched that part of the world from his shaded spot. It wasn't until around noon that he decided that he had no reason to stay there and stood to walk down the steps.

He didn't create an energy cloud to fly home like you would have expected. He walked and he walked towards the hot spring. He walked down the path and through the trees until he could smell the hot dampness in the air. He heard the running of the nearby stream and the bubbling of the hot water before he saw the heated mist.

He stood on his side of the shore and remembered the last time that he was there. He was with Kagome and they had just gotten back from visiting the miko and a young friend of hers who had been ill. He saw something that seemed familiar and easily jumped to the other side.

There were patches of snow still on the ground, but in most areas like the one he was looking at, it was just cold earth. The thing that whipped in a passing breeze was a strip of cloth that he had once used as a fundoshi. He hadn't bothered to put it back on after it had fallen to the ground when they were getting dressed.

He grabbed the end of it and pulled it free of what bits of twigs and ice that had collected on it and walked off in the direction of his home. As his now present energy cloud carried him higher than the tops of the trees, his mind lead him to the conclusion of having to find Masami-sama.


	62. Chapter 62

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

* 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 = Means that it's the same POV just a shift in time.

* * *

Chapter 62

I looked up and watched as Mai allowed Sesshomaru-sama to walk into the room ahead of her so she could close the door once she was inside the room herself. He took a moment to look at Inuyasha-sama, who was sitting across the table from me, before I was greeted.

"Good afternoon Masami-sama," he said before coming closer and bowing.

"Sesshomaru-sama, I didn't expect to see you today," I said as my eyes moved between both brothers that now sat across from me after I bowed to my new arrival.

"Why are you here?" Sesshomaru-sama asked his half brother.

"I just needed some information from Masami-sama about something," the younger of the two answered.

"Information about what?" the older one further inquired. Inuyasha-sama was quite for a while. I hoped that he would give his brother the answer before I was asked the same question in turn.

"Miroku and I are going to be mated and I wanted to make sure I knew how it was done, so we could do it after the girls get back," he finally said.

"So you are going to officially ask him once Kagome returns?" Sesshomaru-sama asked him.

"I just said that," Inuyasha-sama replied sounding a little irritated that his brother repeated what he said. I looked at Sesshomaru-sama as he in turn looked thoughtful for a moment before speaking.

"Have you decided on your gift?" he asked.

"Yes. I even already have it," Inuyasha proudly answered. Again Sesshomaru-sama looked thoughtful.

"And what brings Sesshomaru-sama to my home today?" I asked him once they were both quite for a while. He looked at me and his eyes shifted in color as he decided what he wanted to say.

"I came to ask you about mushi," he told me.

"Have you seen one my Lord?" I asked him.

"Yes," he started and then paused before continuing. "One entered Kagome two days ago," my young lord told me. I had lifted the newly filled cup of tea towards my mouth but brought it back down to the table without tasting it. I looked at him. _He doesn't seem overly distressed. So she can't still be __in __danger. _

"How is Kagome-kyou now?" I asked him to gain some more information.

"She is better. I was able to retrieve the smoke that took the thing from her body," he explained.

"What do you know about…"

"WHAT?" Inuyasha-sama shouted as he jumped to his feet and looked down at his older brother. "What do you mean removed it from her body? What happened to Kagome?" he shouted at Sesshomaru-sama.

Sesshomaru-sama looked at his standing half brother and I saw the colors in his eyes shift again. He was choosing his words rather carefully as he looked up his younger sibling that was clearly concerned over the well being of someone he honestly cared for.

"We were in the woods when something caused her to cry out in pain. I saw something that appeared to be a leaf on her back before it entered her. When she fell unconscious I took her to the miko Kaede. There she told me that it was a mushi I saw. I was sent to retrieve a type of wood that made smoke which was able to pull the creature from her body. I was then given the task of taking it high into the mountains while the miko continued to care for Kagome. The next day I took Kagome to her home, and I spent a day with her there make sure she was mostly recovered before returning," he ended.

I had watched both of them during the telling of Kagome-kyou's story. My lord was holding parts of the story back. I wasn't sure if it was to hide some things from myself or his brother or the both of us.

Inuyasha on the other hand had calmed down as the story was told. I watched as his breathing went back to normal and the slight rage he had on his face at first hearing his friend's fate lessened into concern, then sadness and then finally into a tired peace upon hearing that she was truly safe and was well again.

He took his seat when Sesshomaru-sama had finished and turned back to look at me. I thought of my next question to keep the answers that he didn't want Inuyasha to know from having to be told at this time.

"My lord," I started. "I'm pleased to hear that Kagome-kyou is again well. Do you wish for me to go and examine her?" I offered. He paused before he answered my question.

"No, it's not needed," he said. His pause lead me to believe that he didn't know of my knowledge of the time well. _So be it._

"Yes my Lord. Perhaps when she returns then?" I offered again. _What kind of healer would I be if I didn't appear to care?_

"Perhaps," he answered. "If she doesn't mind," he ended.

"What is a mushi?" I heard from Inuyasha-sama's direction.

"I have been told that they are things that live between our world, that we see and touch, and the spirit world. The forms they take are mostly transparent and can be seen in any shape. Some seek out humans, others avoid them, and some do not care if a human is in their path or not. They are mostly never seen by demons because our yōkai pushes them from us when we extend it and when we do not, they pass through us like the ghosts they appear to be. Another reason for them to have hardly ever been seen is because they tend to live in hard to reach and find areas, including the kinds that seek out humans. But even then, they do not travel very far in search of one. I have never heard of a demon of any kind, hanyou included, being harmed by a mushi," I explained before taking a sip of my tea.

"But why are they here?" Inuyasha-sama asked me. I blinked at him.

"Why are any of us here?" I asked him. I didn't expect an answer. "We are all just part of creation," I told him.

*** 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0**

Both of the brothers left at the same time. Sesshomaru-sama may or may not have gotten the answers that he wanted and Inuyasha-sama had forgotten the other questions that he may have had for me.

My lord told me that Kagome-kyou would be returning in three weeks time. I had a feeling that he wanted me to see her once she returned. Since I felt that it was important for them to know that I knew about her jumps through time, I had gone down stairs to my study after I followed them to the door.

I continued to move my brush over a small scroll that I constantly replaced. I was writing a reminder of today and of the day that Kagome-kyou would return. _They may hide something from me one day and that could impact my ability to treat and cure either one of them._ Was a thought that ran through my mind as I wrote the note for myself.

This is also something that a healer could not allow.

**# ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ #**

**Mushi** - This is a charator that I took from an anime named Mushi-shi. The explanation that I have in this chapter about them is mostly me and is not the official story. I think that there is an animated movie and a real life movie under the same name. I have yet to watch either.


	63. Chapter 63

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

* 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 = Means that it's the same POV just a shift in time.

* * *

Chapter 63

There was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it!" I shouted to the rest of the house as I slowly stood up from the floor as I continued to watch the Light Wave Mach as it fell into the atmosphere. I heard the knock again and this time it was longer and louder.

"Coming!" I shouted as I reluctantly turned away from the tv screen to walk into the kitchen to the back door where I heard the knocking coming from. I opened the door and before I looked up to see who it was I saw the red cloth and knew it was Inuyasha. I looked up into his face and confirmed it.

"Inuyasha," I greeted him before I frowned. "Why are you here?" I asked him. "I thought Kagome was staying for a while," I told him.

"I just want to talk to her. Is she home," he asked me.

"Yeah," I answered. "She got back half an hour ago. She's up in her room. You want me to go get her?" I asked him. I now saw the worry that he had on his face.

"Naw, I'll go up myself," he said before he breezed past me and into the house. By the time I turned around I heard his footsteps on the stairs as he went to Kagome's room.

"Inuyasha," I heard Kagome say before someone closed the door to her room. I couldn't hear anything else from where I stood at the bottom of the steps so I made my way back to sitting in front of the tv. I made it back just in time to see the screen go blank before a commercial started.

**- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -**

Sesshomaru stood and looked down at the crests that I had placed before him. I looked to my side and saw Katsu as he stood there with this head slightly bowed. This day was turning out to be more eventful then I thought it would be. At least Kagome was safe and ok.

Sesshomaru asked Katsu a question and I just remembered watching Kagome as she sat on her bed telling me that she was fine. There were two very strong scents in the bedroom which made me not want to stay there too long, but she looked a bit lonely. It was kinda like how she use to look when she would rather be back here with us then in her time going to school, but seeing me didn't look like it cheered her up.

"Inuyasha-sama," I looked up when I heard my name. "Found the battle field before my guards did. It was our outer ring of scouts that found the tracks that the armies left and followed them until they came across the same scene that Inuyasha-sama did. Another set of scouts noted some ningen males on horses that where headed towards the north, but until we received the other report we weren't sure what was going on.

Once I received their reports I had the fleeing men tracked to find out who they were." Sesshomaru raised a hand to stop him from continuing.

"I read the rest in the scribed report," he said. All the reports that Katsu had told me on those mornings when I was standing in for Sesshomaru were retold to a scribe that lived in a building here on the grounds, but I never saw them. In fact, there were suppose to be more than one. Every guard was suppose to sit with a scribe after they had given their oral reports to Katsu before he retold it to either myself or Sesshomaru.

"Has anything happened since then that hasn't been scribed?" Sesshomaru asked Katsu.

"No Sesshomaru-sama," he answered him. Sesshomaru thought about something as he walked away from us for a moment. He then turned back to look at me before he turned towards Katsu. He paused for a moment longer.

"I want reports from all trading merchants that live in the village or passing through it. Ask them about these men and find out if they know of any armies coming in this direction. I want a scribed report in a fortnight," Sesshomaru told him.

"Yes Sesshomaru-sama," he answered.

"You may leave," Sesshomaru then told him. Katsu bowed deeper before leaving the room. I continued to sit there to see if he would need me for anything or to tell me something. I sat as still as I could for as long as I could. When my right leg started to shake, Sesshomaru walked towards me and sat down opposite of me across the table.

"How is Kagome?" he asked. I blinked. _This is what he wanted to ask me? Didn't he just leave her?_

"Fine, I guess," I told him. He continued to look at me. I turned my head away before I spoke again. "She looked fine, just a little lonely I guess," I admitted to him. My face twitched as it sunk in what was going on.

"You said that you were planing on mating with your monk. Do you intend to be mated this year?" he asked me. I turned and looked at him due to the very odd change in our conversation. _I told him all this earlier._

"Yes, it will be this year," I answered.

"Will you continue to live here and at times help to rule our lands?" he asked. I looked away. I half expected that, even if I never thought it through.

"Yes," I told him again.

"Then I give you the task of finding our new home," he said. I looked at him. _New home? Didn't he just ask if I wanted to stay here? Why would I or we need a new home?_

"Ha?" I asked him without trying to hid the look of confusion on my face.

"We may need to move from here and we will be taking the village with us. It has happened a small number of times during our father's reign when a ningen war came too close or some natural disaster occurred," he answered. I sat there thinking. _Ok, we were going to move someday. Not necessary this month or this year for that matter. It was a backup plan, a 'just in case' kind of thing._

"When should I start looking for this place?" I asked him. He raised an eyebrow before lowing it and answering my question.

"After Katsu-tichuo's report," he told me. I nodded my head and stood.

"Is there anything else you wanted to ask me?" I asked him. He just shook his head and turned to look at something to the right of me. _He really fell for Kagome._ I shook my head on the inside as I walked out of the room.

**- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -**

"He treats you better than Inuyasha doesn't he?" Yuka asked.

"How much older is he? He's not a pedophile is he?" Eri asked which stopped Yuka from asking any more questions as they both looked at me for an answer.

"Well," I started as I thought back over their questions. "I just fell in love with him. I'm sure he didn't want to either since he knew I liked his brother before him. As for a picture of him, I don't have one," I said as I made a mental note of trying to take one. "Inuyasha was nice to me. He still is. He came by yesterday to see how I was," I proudly told them. The bad boy image that they came up for him was still there even after they met him and openly gave their approval of him. I guess that was mostly my fault for how I use to talk about him around them. I twinged on the inside as I felt some guilt over my past actions.

"Fine. Inuyasha is a good guy, but what about the brother? How old is he?" Eri asked again.

"Does it matter?" I asked them in turn. "We are getting married after all," I said before I took a long slow drink of my coke through its straw. They exchanged looks between the two of them while somehow still managing to look at me.

"If you are so sure that he is going to marry you, then where is your engagement ring?" Yuka asked me. I gulped but my lips didn't let go of the straw. _I can't very well tell them that demons don't use engagement rings. _

"He's getting it for the next time we meet," I told them before I looked down at my plate. I picked up a french fry and ate it quickly before eating another as I thought that it wouldn't be such a bad thing if I asked Sesshomaru for one before I came back.

"The next time?" Yuka asked.

"Where is Ayumi?" I asked to change the line of questions before I said something I wasn't suppose to.

"She's not coming," Eri said.

"How come?" I asked a little surprised.

"Well, she got a boy friend too," Yuka reluctantly told me.

"HA?" My eyes opened wider in surprise. "When?" I asked as my mind starting to generate its own questions.

"You were gone for so long that Hojo would look for us to find out how you were doing and the both of them started to hang out without the two of us about a month ago I think," Yoka said as she turned to look at Eri.

"Yeah, I think it was a month ago. When was the last time you came to school?" Eri asked me.

I sat back and thought about it.

"No," Eri said. "It was before the last time. It was before you came back to school two times back. Your ojiisan said that you had to go to Kyoto to see a specialist."

"OH!" Yuka said a bit too loudly causing both me and Eri to look at her. "Inuyasha's brother is your doctor isn't he?" she asked me.

I'm sure I groaned out load as I went back to drinking my coke.

*** 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0**

I walked up the steps to the temple and my home as I breathed a sigh of relief. After I got the girls to believe that he wasn't my doctor, or a doctor at all, I was able to get them to tell me of things I had missed while I was away.

The light post flickered on over head and I stood and looked up at until the light was steady. I then looked back at the steps before continuing to walk upward. The night air was clear and not that cold even with the constant blowing of a gentle wind that moved what little debris it could find along the steps.

I was wearing the new coat that Mama had gotten for me. She ended up picking out the same kind and color as the one I lost. I stumbled as I got to the top step but tried to step higher as I was remembering Sesshomaru's face when he had seen my old coat for the first time. I shook my head and walked along the path to my house without anymore false steps.

"I'm home!" I shouted as I stepped inside before bending to take off my shoes.

"Welcome home Kagome," Mama called from the kitchen as I made my way into the brightly lit room.

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I snuggled down and breathed out as I prepared to finally go to sleep. I had gone over what I could of my past assignments and lessons, but I couldn't do it all. I knew I was going to be behind for a few more days until I caught up. _At least you will be here long enough to catch up_, I told myself.

I pulled the blue shirt closer to my face and closed my eyes. _Just two and half more weeks,_ I told myself.

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**Ojiisan** - grandfather as spoken by someone who isn't is talking about someone else's grandfather. If you want to talk about your own grandfather you would say sofu.

**Ayumi, Eri and Yuka** - Kagome's three girl friends from school in case you forgot. :)

**Where are my reviews? Not that I don't like the fact that you faved this story, but is it so hard to talk to me?**


	64. Chapter 64

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

* 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 = Means that it's the same POV just a shift in time.

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Chapter 64

"Are you sure that it's alright for you to spend more than a day or two away from the clan?" I asked Kouga as we sat in one of the gardens holding hands while watching Rin and Shippo play.

"Sure," he said as he squeezed my hand lightly. "They aren't completely lost without me, but I would be pushing it if I stayed away for more than a week," he admitted. At first Kouga only came with me because he saw how hard it was for me to leave after spending almost three weeks with him and the rest of the clan. I wasn't even suppose to have stayed that long. I said I was going to stay for two weeks, but on the day I was suppose to leave I just couldn't. The same thing happened the next day and the day after that.

Finally Kouga said that he was taking me back. He cut me off in mid-sentence as he thought I was going to say why I wouldn't be leaving again that day. He took Hiraikotsu from me and slung it over his shoulder. I stood there and watched him as he picked me up from the spot I was standing in with my furoshiki, with what little I had brought with me, to run away with me in a kicked up mass of air and dust.

"Sango-sama," I heard from behind of me. Both of us turned to see who it was. Standing in the opening to the house was Sadahiro Sensei. I stood up and walked over to her leaving Kouga to look over the children.

"Good afternoon Sadahiro Sensei," I said as I came closer.

"Good afternoon Sango-sama," she said with a slight blow. "I'm sorry to bother you, but it's time for their lesson," Sadahiro Sensei said with a small fragile smile.

"Oh, I'm sorry to have kept them," I told her in all honestly before turning and walking over to Rin and Shippo.

"It's time for your lessens you two," I told them when I was close enough so I didn't have to shout. Rin looked up at me before she looked over at the house.

"Sadahiro Sensei!" she shouted as she got up from what she was doing with Shippo and ran in her Sensei's direction.

"Hay! Wait for me!" Shippo shouted after Rin as he started to follow her. I turned around and watched them as they went inside and out of my view. Kouga then caught my attention as I saw him starting to walk towards me. The pelts he wore today were from a black bear that I hunted the second day I visited his tribe for the first time. Okāsan had tanned the hide for me, but I was the one who fitted it to Kouga's body the first week I was back at his home.

As Kouga came into arm's length he reached out for my shoulder and face. I looked up into his eyes as he got closer still, until I had to close my eyes to kiss him. His breath felt hot on my lips before it filled my mouth. His hands moved and were soon placed along my spine as he pulled me closer to him. I hung on desperately to any of his fur or clothing as I willing suffocated with the closeness of him.

Soon it became easier for me to breathe and the kiss continued on into smaller versions of itself. We kissed and parted and kissed again until we were just trading smiles as we opened our eyes before our lips meet again.

Finally he held my face and kissed my forehead as I smiled before hugging him. I felt him pull back and I looked up to see him smiling as I felt him reaching to hold my hand again. We started walking slowly around the garden and pointing out a thing or two that we felt like sharing with each other.

"Where is mutt face?" Kouga asked me out of the blue.

"Inuyasha?" I asked as I wondered why he was thinking of him.

"Yeah, I haven't seen a hair of him since breakfast," he commented.

"I don't know," I said as I shrugged my shoulders. "Maybe he's in the Dojo with Maroku," I said in an attempt to answer his question. "Why do you ask?" I asked him to find out the reason for his sudden interest in Inuyasha's whereabouts.

"Nothing, just wondering," he said before he turned to look at me. "Just making sure that we are really alone," he added before he pulled me into a circle of bushes that blocked anyone from seeing us as he pushed me down to the ground with a kiss that only deepened.

I didn't try to push him away, or thought about someone maybe finding us. I held on to his fur and pulled him closer before I started to pull them off of him. I was so nervous about leaving today that I just laid next to him letting him sleep last night. I didn't even know he was asleep until I turned to tell him that I was really going to leave the next day.

Kouga made short work of opening my jacket before I felt his hands around my waist pulling my apron loose before pulling down the legging part of my battle suit past my hips. He moved his hands back up along my skin and under my yukata to cup my right beast.

"Muumm," I moaned into his mouth before I broke our kiss to look at his face, then at his lower half that was still covered. I pushed my hands down his sides until I got to his hips where my thumbs hooked over the waist of the garment. I pushed it down as far as I could to before I bent and sucked him into my mouth. He was already hard and so very hot in my mouth.

I sucked and licked him five times for my pleasure before I leaned back onto my elbows and opened my legs for him. I looked at him at him with a smile on my face knowing that my hair was a mess. I felt my breasts as they were chilled by the air in their exposed state and I used my leg to brush along his arm as he looked at me trying to figure something out. I also speared a moment to wonder when he finished pulling my leggings off my feet, but a very short moment. I smiled wider when I saw that he had made up his mind. He sat back and pulled the last of his furs off before he pulled at my ankle drawing me under him. I reached up for the back of his head and he kissed me as he entered my body.

I warped one leg over his ass while he kept a hold on the other and held it as he came into me again and again.

"Aahh… aha.. ha… hah…. Haa…. Aahahh…" I looped my arms around his neck as he started to go faster. My body was being slapped and rocked between him and my coat that kept me mostly off the cold ground.

"Aah… haahh.. haa… ahahha…" _He's coming….just a little more… I'm almost there…. _"Yes… Yes.. YES…" His tail was beating madly against my toes as I seized onto him as I came. I held on as he continued driving into me, fueling the explosions that were going off inside my body. As my body started to think of twitching from being over simulated he started to jerk in my arms. There were longer and longer brakes between jerks until he stopped at eight and started to roll with me so I ended up laying on his chest.

I wondered if anyone heard us while I looked at his tail that barely lifted itself off of the ground before falling back down unto it again. I almost never hear him when we coupled. _Maybe I should start trying to listening. _I told myself as I started to feel the cold air as it drew the heat out of my body.

I turned my face to his and reached up to kissing him on the side of his lips before sitting up and starting to look for my clothes.

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I looked over at my woman as she crawled around looking for her garments and putting them back on. I grinned at her hair that looked like she had been sleeping outside for hours instead of the short time we actually took.

I reached over and held her wrist as I pulled her back to me for another kiss. I didn't want to part from her either and I wanted to remember how she tasted for when she would be out of my reach again.

"I have to get dressed. I'm getting cold," Sango said as she broke the kiss and stood to finish putting on her wrapped apron over her leggings. I continued to smile at her and she smiled back as she tied her knots to keep it in place. I wasn't really cold for a demon like myself, but I wasn't going to stay here without her either.

I started to look for my furs and got dress as she waited, then helped towards the end. _She is almost completely mine. _I told myself as I looked down at her as she slid and tied some of my pelts back into place. Kagome would be back soon and I will find out how her quest to retrieve all the jewel shards will continue.

For the whole time Sango stayed with me and her clan-to-be, I didn't once ask her what she had decided. I wasn't even going to be here to find out this early, but I just had to know after feeling like we were already mated from our time together these past weeks.

"I need a warm bath," she said as she looked up at me. She had completed her task and was ready to move on.

"My Sango," I said as I hugged her before burying my nose into her hair. "I'll wash your hair," I told her as I pulled back. She reached a hand up and touched her hair.

"Is it that bad?" she asked before her fingers found a twig and pulled it free.

"No, it's not so bad," I told her with a smile. I reached my hands up and combed a few more pieces out with my claws as she stood in front of me pulling her red coat that she had gotten from Kagome, a little bit tighter.

"If I was turned," Sango started to say as we continued our walk again after leaving the circle of bushes. "Would I have one child at a time, or would I have more?" We kept on walking as I thought about the answer. She did this back at the den too. Just asking random questions about what if she was turned. The first one I thought was just that, a question. When she kept doing it I started to believe that she was getting information so she could make up her mind about whether or not she would want to be turned when we got mated.

"It's normal for wolves to have three or more cubs at once, but wolf demons normally have one cub at a time," I told her. "But I have heard of some wolf demon mothers who had two cubs at once. It's not very common but it isn't unheard of either," I ended.

"It's the same for humans," she answered. "Back in my village there was a woman named Kin. She was married to Osamu-oji and she gave birth to twins the year I turned twelve years old. She was huge and had to stay in bed for the last two months that she was pregnant. Kohaku was so young. He thought that she was had three babies inside her for how big she looked," she finished with a laugh before her eyes started to waver behind unshed tears.

I let go of her hand that I was holding all this time and reached around her shoulders to pull her close. Every now and again she would cry at something that reminded her of her brother. It didn't start until after they had defeated Naroku. So far I haven't been of much help to her. I didn't know where her brother could be if he was even still alive and I've looked.

"Sango," I said and waited for a reply back from her.

"Hum?" she asked after a moment.

"I think you should continue with Kagome and help her look for the jewel shards," I told her. She pulled back and looked at me with her tear streaked face.

"Why?" she asked as she started to wipe one cheek clean. I'm sure that she didn't expect me to tell her that. We are like on the verge of saying our commitment vows and I give her this kind of advice.

"You might be able to find Kohaku this way," I told her as I held both her shoulders in my hands. She looked up at me and I watched as her eyes held new tears that that soon slide down her cheeks again. I pulled her close and held her as she cried. She deserved a good cry and I let her. I stood there holding her, letting her know that I was there for her like I have been and always will be.

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**Furoshiki** - carrying cloth (that blue cloth that she carries her things in)

**Yukata** - is a Japanese garment, a casual summer kimono usually made of cotton.

**Oji - **uncle (a close male older than one's parent)


	65. Chapter 65

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

* 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 = Means that it's the same POV just a shift in time.

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Chapter 65

"Kouga will be there too," I said as I looked over at Inuyasha. He was eating a small plate of sliced boar. I had waited until he was just about finished before I brought it up. He ate the last piece and raised the plate to drink the blood that had gathered there. He then placed it on the low table he was sitting next to and dropped the chopsticks next to the plate before he got up and started walking towards me.

"Yeah, I heard him," he answered before he stopped and walked into the bathing room. The only noise I knew was the splash of water among the others he made. When he came back out he was wiping the back of his hand across his mouth. "So what if he's there?" Inuyasha continued as he came to stand in front of me. I craned my neck and looked up his body until I got to his face.

"If it doesn't bother you, it doesn't bother me," I told him before smiling. The smile wasn't meant to hide anything, but there was a grain of something there, in the back of my mind.

"It doesn't," he said before he dropped to his knees and reached out for my face. He pulled me closer and kissed me before looking into my face again. "Are you afraid?" he asks me.

"Afraid? Why would I be afraid?" I asked as I pulled back a bit too much for him. He follows me unto the bed and lays next to me as I look up at the ceiling. "I'm really not bothered," I said again. I turn to look at him. His face is so close to mine and his hair was falling over his shoulder. He was looking at me, waiting for a different answer. _I really am not afraid, _I told myself.

"It's just the fact that the moment is here," I tell him before I look up at the young white haired demon on the ceiling and telling myself it's Inuyasha again. "I don't know what to expect and I don't like that. Even though I've thought of what might happen, I don't know if I'm right, kinda right or very, very wrong," I said.

I raised my hands to my face and covered my eyes for a minute, but quickly uncovered them when I saw Sango calling me something worst then pervert.

"Whatever happens, we won't change," Inuyasha said as he pulled us together. He moved towards me and he pulled me back against his chest. "Whatever they say, we are staying together. After all you fell for me right?" he asked and I felt him grinning behind of me. I smile too. I turn and look at him and his eyes dazzled me.

"Yes, I fell for you," I told him before I bent my head and kissed him. He gently pushed me to lay down on my back as we continued the kiss and he laid his body over mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck and held him close as my whole body started to get excited at his touch. He slid his hand between us and over my chest. He paused to pull at one of my nipples before moving lower.

I had given up wearing any clothes to bed once we were in our rooms. It saved so much time. And time is something he didn't waste tonight as I gasped into him mouth as I felt his hand pulling on my growing manhood.

"Inuyasha," I breathed with lust when his mouth moved from mine and down my neck. I kept my hands in contact with him. His hair; his neck; his shoulders with all at my fingertips. My hips moved against his hand, or with his hand depending on how you think about it.

I closed my eyes and I felt every part of him as it touched me, moved along my skin and warmed my flesh. His breath was warm and inviting as his tongue moved down my neck and over my chest. His lips pressed onto a nipple before sucking it and the moving to the next, then moving back again.

"Inuyasha," I cried out louder as his hands moved faster and my body couldn't help but move with him. I felt the swelling and tightening in my loins. I felt it building. My skin felt like it was melting off of my body. I held one hand in his hair and the other clung to his shoulder.

"Ahh… AAAHhhhh….. I'm coming," I told him as my voice created loader moans.

"Then come," I heard him say just before heat and suction replaced his hand and I arched up into it with the feeling of letting go and having it pulled out of me all mixed into one. I don't know how loud I was, or if I made any sounds at all.

I felt Inuyasha holding on to me as I was frozen with my back arched up from the bed with my head bent back into a flattened pillow as everything I had went into him. When I felt like breathing again my body fell back onto the sheets. My eyes were closed and I heard only my breathing. _I want to see Inuyasha. _I opened my eyes as I felt his tongue and mouth slide off of me. I looked down at him and he looked at me. He wasn't swallowing. His eyes were darker with lust now.

He reached for my legs and rolled me up unto my shoulders all without saying a word. I knew what he was going to do and I body quickly felt the excitement once more. _Inuyasha. _I watched him lower his head until he closed his eyes and I felt his mouth at my puckered opening. I felt his tongue as it left his mouth and pushed its way into me. I held on to the sheets as my senses started to reel once again.

I felt something hot start to slide between my ass cheeks and down my back. I almost had to think of what it could be until I remembered that he didn't swallow. He was pressing his tongue back and forth to give it space to flow back into me. As the wetness continued to spill from his mouth I knew that it couldn't have all come from me. The tip of his tongue pushed more into me before it stayed inside and moved around like I liked it.

"AH! … aaahhh… AH!" he found it. I twisted my hands into the sheets tighter to keep from pounding them into the bed. I tried to move the rest of me but Inuyasha kept me in place. I was starting to feel that swirling motion in the pit of my stomach again.

"Inuyasha," I said calling out to him. "AH!... Inuyasha," I called out again. I looked up between my legs and past my cock that was starting to drip unto my stomach. I saw his white ears among his white hair as his head followed his tongue. "Please, Inuyasha," I begged him again.

Now he stopped and looked down at me. He lowered me to lay on his thighs. I felt him pressing against my entrance and it made me wish that he was already in me.

"AAAaaaahhhhh," was pulled out of me as he leaned over my body, pushing his large manhood into me. _It almost felt like the first time each time_, I noted for a very brief moment. He licks and heals me almost every time but my body never forgets the pleasure and always wants more of him.

I saw his face coming closer and I waited for his lips to touch mine. I pulled my hands from where I had them entangled in the sheets and held on to him when he was within my reach. I pulled him closer as he kissed me deeply before holding on tighter as his hips started to slam into mine.

We are both moaning now and my cock was being rubbed and pressed and left to be covered in fresh pre-cum again and again by the meeting and separating of our bodies with each thrust that I tried to meet and make deeper.

"Ah… ha… haa…. Hah…. Hah… AAAahhh.." _Inuyahsa, _I said in my mind as I felt it starting to slip from me. My nipples were hard as they bush again his chest. Over his smooth skin and across his own hard nipples. "Inuyasha, I'm coming," I tell him again as my mind starts to let go of the last connection it had with my body. I felt him pounding into me faster and harder.

"AH, AH, AH, Ah, Hah, Hah, Haahhhh, HHHAAAaaahhhhh…" I screamed as I came first and my legs clutched around him as he came into me one last time. I felt the heated liquid as it coated my insides. I felt it flow into my body as I heard Inuyasha panting next to my ear. "My Inuyasha," I said quietly knowing that he heard me.

When my legs felt tired and the lust had flowed out of my body I let go of his waist, but I didn't make him move. I didn't care if he stayed in and on me all night. I was very content with where he was and I knew I was going to be content and happy for long after this. I reached a hand up and cradled the back of his head.

"My Miroku," I heard him said before he kissed my shoulder. I smiled at this and I was very happy to be his. I felt time moving by as it pulled us closer to when we would let everyone know. We were going to be together for better or worst.

I looked up at the ceiling again. My eyes drifted close as round gold ones looked down at both of us.

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_Who on earth is knocking at this hour? What hour is it? _I reluctantly opened one eye and looked towards the window. The sun was barely up. _Maybe they came for the dishes. _I told myself.

"Come in," I said as I pulled Miroku closer. I heard the door open but I didn't want to look to see who it was. It didn't matter to me who came and got the dishes.

"Inuyasha-sama," they said. _I know that voice. _I opened one eye and looked to the foot of my bed where I heard the voice coming from to see Katsu with his head bowed.

"What on earth are you doing here?" I asked him as I sat up and sadly letting go of Miroku who reached out and held on to my hand that was still close to him, as he continued to sleep.

"Sesshomaru-sama has left for the day, so I have to make my report to you," he said with his head still bowed._ Great! The bastard did it to me again. _I looked from Katsu to Miroku. I was tempted to cover him with the blanket, but I couldn't do that to Miroku. Katsu must have seen him when he walked into the room anyway and we were going to announce that we were going to be mated in two days when Kagome came back. I looked up at Katsu. _I guess the hiding ends now, _I told myself as I sat up fully to look at him better. I pulled at the sheet to fit it around my hips along with covering Miroku just a little more.

"You may start your report Katsu-teichou," I tell him when I was finished. I watch him as he stands fully upright, waiting to see if he gives Miroku a second look.

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Without haste I walked up the hill that the enchanted well sat on. I had already been to the hut and saw that it hadn't been disturbed since the night I decided to take Kagome to her time to keep her safe. I felt my eyebrows move as the thought of failing to protect her fluttered over my mind. But it was fleeting. I made sure that none of those mushi creatures were anywhere near any of the places we would spend the next two days.

I left my home a day earlier than I had first planed, but I'm positive that Katsu-teichou didn't fail to see me as I left this morning, just before he was suppose to give me his report. The slight smile that started to spread across my features at having Inuyasha unwilling standing in for me again was sobered by the knowledge that Kagome wasn't expecting me so soon.

Would she think that I was pressuring her? Would she say that she didn't want to leave or see me yet? _NO! She was to be my mate. This was agreed on. She would do what I wished._ I stood in front of the Bone Eater's Well. I looked down into the black cavity and rethought what just passed through my mind.

I leaned forward and braced my hands on the weather worn wood and looked down at the bare ground that not even grass grew from this time of the year. _She would want to see me. She was very reluctant for me to leave in the first place. Why was I thinking those things before?_ _I will go and get her and she will be happy to see me as I am … as I am to see her._

I looked back into the blackness that was the inside of the well. I saw faded yellow as it brightened and grew larger. I reached out my hand caught it before it came any closer to my face. My hand gripped a fabric that my claws dug into. It was Kagome's bag. I took six steps backward and waited to see what else would come up from the well.

I watched as curved metal turned into a circle that was covered in a black strip as it slowly emerged from the mouth of the well until the foot rest of Kagome's machine rested over the top and appeared to have gotten stuck.

Who, or what, was pushing the thing stopped, but I heard scraping as it moved up the inside of the well until a hand with dirty fingers gripped the wood that I was touching just moments before. Another hand joined the first and a head of black long hair came into few. Before her brown eyes looked at mine, I smelled her on the air that blew from her direction.

Kagome finished pulling her machine from inside the well once she was standing on solid ground and leaned it against the outer wall before she started to look for something. I looked at my hand that still gripped the bag before looking back at her.

My eyes traveled up her legs that were in a thick white legging and she was once again wearing that short green skirt that I first saw her in years earlier. I saw her white shirt with its green collar that was peeking through the front of another fluffy jack before I looked into her eyes. She was looking back at me now and her eye gave me the feeling of drowning again.

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**Teichou** - Captain. You may have heard that word a lot if you watch "Bleach" subtitled. But it also has a lot of other meanings. Eg - low tide, courtesy, polite and slow to name a few. I'm sure they all sound different, but they are spelled the same. (I should have listed this before. Sorry)


	66. Chapter 66

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

* 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 = Means that it's the same POV just a shift in time.

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Chapter 66

"You have my bag," Kagome said as she looked at Sesshomaru with a very light and happy heart. She couldn't believe that she found him here at the well. Sesshomaru couldn't believe that she just came out of the well he was just about to jump into for her.

He stood there holding her bag as he took the sight of her in. His memory was good, but having her before him was better than the memories she had left with him. He didn't know what to do now. He hasn't had to greet anyone he cared for in years and even then there were rules on how he did that. Sesshomaru stepped a bit closer to the female he wanted to make his mate.

Kagome watched Sesshomaru as he came closer to her and her heart started to pound harder than it did when she decided to skip school and come back a day early to surprise Sesshomaru and to be just that much closer to him. She watched him as he took one more step before stopping and looking at her. Kagome took her first step towards him as a smile poke through and took over her lips as she started to lose her ability to not show how happy she was.

Kagome watched delighted as what she was feeling started to show on Sesshomaru's face. She knew it was happening before he did. Sesshomaru slowly smiled. It wasn't a wide, face swallowing smile that Kagome showed as she leaped at him as he now stood just four feet away. Sesshomaru dropped her bag and held her to his chest as she clung to him also.

"Sesshomaru," she said into his hair next to his ear.

"Kagome," he said in turn as they just stood there making sure that they had a firm grip on each other.

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_We are back at the hut again_, I thought as I looked around the inside of the hut. _It seemed like we were just here yesterday now that I'm back again. _Nothing was out of place at all. I pulled off the gloves that I had just put on for the walk from the well to the hut. I stuffed each into a separate pocket.

I walked over to where some pieces of firewood were and pulled out some of the smaller pieces. I looked back at the door once I had the flames warming my fingers thinking it was time for Sesshomaru to come back from the river. He said that we needed water and left as soon as I had stepped inside. I stood and walked over to where we kept the jars that held different kinds of tea along with honey and some of the sugar I brought from home.

I picked up three jars and turned to walk back to the fire and the tea pot that was always next to it when I heard the door as it was slid open. I looked over and watched as the air blow in with Sesshomaru as he stepped inside with his hair being tossed up and across his face before it fell down again. The curtain that tried to protect the doorway showed that it had seen far better days. _I have to replace that._

The hut, that one moment ago was so familiar and comfortable, was now colored brilliantly with Sesshomaru's presence. He looked at me with the eyes I've been dreaming of for the past two and half weeks and my coat started to feel too warm and too small.

"Welcome back," I said as I smiled at him. He showed his new small smile to me and I turned towards the fire to start the tea that I knew he would be wanting soon. I sat in front of the fire and prepared the tea for the water. When it was time to add the water I saw the bucket as Sesshomaru lowered it next to me before he sat down at the fire also. I smiled as I used a deep spoon and scoped out some water to fill the pot. I then hung it on the metal arm and swung it over the fire. Then there was silence. Neither of us said anything.

"Did you enjoy your visit home?" Sesshomaru asked me as he broke the void of verbal noise. I looked up and saw him looking at me.

"Yes," I told him. "It was nice to see Mama, Sota and my friends again. Everyone was happy that I was going to be able to stay so long this time," I stopped and smiled as I remember the odd ideas that my friends came up with when I told them of Sesshomaru.

"Did something," he paused. "Pleasant happen?" Sesshomaru asked me. _Where did that come from?_

"Nothing much really," I said as I shrugged my shoulders and thought over the last few weeks. "For once I caught up with my school work and was enjoying it again for the most part," I confessed.

"And that was worthy of a smile?" he then asked me.

"A smile?" I asked him a little puzzled. _I smiled? _His old face was back again as he looked at me. He then turned and presented me with some meat, again on his armor. I didn't even see it before. Even without their ears I recognized that the two things laying there were once rabbits. _I've never cooked rabbit before. What do I do with them? Stew?__ Sango was the one that did that, I helped, but didn't do it on my own._

"Smile?" I said again as my mind moved back to the first problem it was presented with. He looked at me without a twitch and without giving me a clue as to what he meant. I looked down at my hands as I tried to remember. _It just happened it can't be that hard to remember. _I told myself. _Yuka and Eri. _I smiled again at what they said and then looked up at Sesshomaru as I realized that he showed me another emotion that I didn't think he had.

I suddenly wanted to kiss him but my fingers went cold with the thought as I held my hands. I looked down at my hands then back to him again. His mood looked worst. _I forgot that he couldn't understand what I was feeling, never mind thinking, unless I told him._ I gripped my hands tighter before letting them go. _OK._

"I was thinking of you," I told him before I stood and walked to his side before kneeling down again. "I told my friends about you and they had some funny ideas about you since I couldn't tell them everything and it made me smile," I told him as I looked into his eyes that had followed all my movements. I then raised up on my knees and reached for his face.

"There is nothing and no one to be jealous of," I told him before I kissed him. _He's not kissing me back._ I opened my lips and licked his hoping it would work and that he believed me. I started to back away when he didn't respond.

"Ah," I gasped as he pulled me to his chest and sucked on my lower lip before finally returning my kiss the way I wanted him to. I rocked back and forth in the strong circle of Sesshomaru's arm as we kissed and showed how much we missed each other. Slowly his lips moved away from mine and across my skin. He moved to my jaw, then jumped to the bottom of my ear lobe before moving down my neck.

"Aahh," I moaned softly as my grip on his head tightened when I felt his fangs as they pressed into the base of my neck.

"I wasn't jealous," Sesshomaru said against my hot skin. "I was just curious."


	67. Chapter 67

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

* 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 = Means that it's the same POV just a shift in time.

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Chapter 67

I stood still as the glow moved its way over his body as we stood in the Dojo. I gave him a few moments to feel his human body again. I lowered my staff and waited to see if he wanted to continue. I shouldn't have relaxed. It was as if he stood there waiting for me to lower my guard before he charged me.

"AH!" I shouted as I raised my staff to block his as it came at me. _Fine. I won't give you a break. _Our practice continued until I called time. I leaned on my staff as I looked at him. _I hate it when he tries to make up for being human._

"Are you tired Inuyasha?" I asked him as I visibly showed that I was indeed tired myself. He was trying not to show it, but bit by bit it was crumbling and soon he had to take a deep breath to satisfy his lungs.

"Damn! I hate being so week," he said once he was able to speak more than one word.

"Yet you try so hard," I told him as I now stood upright again.

"Of course I'm going to try. I'm going to be one hundred soon. I have to get better at this," he said. He brushed at his newly blackened wet bangs that were stuck to his forehead before turning towards the water buckets. He dunked his whole head in one before turning to drink from the other. He turned to look at me with most of his hair sticking to him in some way.

"Are you ready?" he asked me as I got closer to him.

_He's serous,_ ran through my head as I reached for the cup and got some of the water for me to drink. I placed the cup back to where I got it from and enjoyed the cold path it made down the inside of my chest. I reached for my staff that I had leaned against the bench that held the buckets as I looked at him.

"Ready," I told him before turning and walking back into the middle of the room. I smiled at him as I came to a spot I liked and waited for him to strike. _He's not going to catch me off guard this time._

**- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -**

I stood there, feeling better than I did a few moments ago, as I watched Miroku as he walked back into the middle of the Dojo. I told him that I wanted to be stronger, but it was hard to fight Miroku and win. He knew all of my moves. _Guess I'll just have come up with something new, _I told myself as I grabbed my own staff and walked out to stand in front of him. I openly grinned as I watch him take up his stands as I got nearer.

I looked at Miroku with his chest covered in sweat and even though we looked about the same now with the same height, same build and currently the same black hair, I knew I was stronger than him. I was just getting use to my human form for the night.

I stepped into a new stand that Katsu had been trying to get me use to. It didn't feel that uncomfortable now as I moved each limb into place and remembered what came next.

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"Of course I'm going to pick a fight. I have nothing else to do here until Kagome shows up," I said as I walked towards the Dojo with Sango at my side.

"You can't fight Inuyasha," Sango told me again.

"Why can't I fight Mutt Face?" I asked her as I started to open the door.

**CRACK**

We both turned and saw Inuyasha standing over Miroku who was laying on his back with his staff up blocking a hit from Inuyasha's. A black haired Inuyasha. A ningen looking and scented Inuyasha.

"He's a ningen again," I said out loud as I stood there watching them as Miroku stood and they turned towards us.

"Having a fight?" Inuyasha asked as he took a step towards us looking a little amused.

"No," I said as I entered the room.

"I can still fight him," I said back to Sango. "I'll just have to go easy on the puppy," I added to try and provoke him into wanting to fight me.

"He's human Kouga, you can't fight him. It wouldn't be fair," she said. _She played right into it. _I looked over at Inuyasha and watched him as he gripped his staff tighter.

"I'm not a puppy you flea bag. I'll be more than happy to fight you and beat you too," Inuyasha said as his eyes tried to drill into me. He tried to do the old stare that I had gotten use to over the years, but some of the bite was missing in his ningen form.

"Well you are free to try. Puppy." I just had to say it.

"I'm not a puppy! I'm older than you are!" he shouted at me.

"You look like a puppy, you act like a puppy and you smell like a puppy, so you have to be a puppy," I said as I walked over to him.

"You'll eat those words," he said before he charged me. I dogged him and ran towards Miroku and pulled the staff he was holding out of his hand and turned to successfully block Inuyasha's first blow. I actually tried hard not to hurt him and to keep it a fair fight, but his fighting was different and I don't mean because he was a ningen. He learned a few things since the last time I had seen him fight. I had to push back harder than I expected I had too and used the power of the shards to get me out the reach of his staff at one point.

"You look a little worried there Kouga," he said feeling pleased with himself.

"I'm not worried," I told him. "I'm just getting started." I used some more of my speed and allowed my own blows to carry some more weight. I looked past our staffs that had once again collided with each other and saw him breathing heavily and believed for a moment that I was pushing him too hard. _Maybe I shouldn't have fought him while he was in his ningen form._ The fight I wanted was with the white haired, mutt faced, hanyou. _It would prove nothing to beat him like this. _

Inuyasha was gone I suddenly realized. _What happened?_ I asked myself just before I felt his wooden staff as it hit my legs from under me. I watched the room flip as I fell backwards onto my back not knowing where Inuyasha was. I grabbed my staff that fell to my side as I felt the end of Inuyasha's. I knew what I would see when I turned to look up.

I saw him standing over me with his staff pressing into my neck. I watched him as he labored for breath but stood steady as he held his staff. I laid there waiting for him to step back. _This is why you aren't suppose to think about anything but the fight when you are fighting someone._

**KNOCK KNOCK**

I turned my head and looked towards the doorway. I smelled the ningen Amaya before I saw her opening the door. _I wonder how the mutt…Inuyasha, can go around not smelling who is coming towards him?_

"Yes Amaya?" Inuyasha said before he looked back at me and took a step back.

"Dinner will be ready in an hour," she said before I turned back and saw her bowing as I laid there on the floor.

"Thank you," Inuyasha said as before bending his head in her direction and walking away. I turned to look at Sango as I heard the door close. She looked into my eyes before she got up and walked past me towards the door. She didn't appear to be pleased with me.

"Sango?" I called out to her as I stood. _I took it easy on the mutt, she shouldn't be mad with me. _"Sango," I said again as I followed her out of the room. _She's not mad at me. _I realized when I walked through her scent that hung in the doorway. "Sango," I sang as I caught up to her. I slid my arm around her waist and walked with her to our room.

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"Are you ok?" I asked him. Inuyasha stood over a fresh bucket of water holding the sides of it as he just breathed. Normally I wouldn't really be worried when he spared with anyone other than Sesshomaru, but he didn't posses his yōkai powers at the moment. I walked closer and dipped a ladle into the water and held it over his head. "I'm going to pour some water over your head," I told him before I started to pour it over his head and the back of his neck that was exposed due to the pony tail that I tied his hair up into before we walked into the Dojo over three hours ago.

He stayed still as the water ran over this head and around his neck where a few droplets went down his back before he raised his head and looked at the wall in front of him. He then turned to look at me as I put the ladle back where I picked it up from.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go get cleaned up," he said. He smiled before he leaned in and kissed me. I kissed him back as his wet chest pressed into mine until we both broke the kiss and started walking towards the door.

We left the Dojo and walked down the hall. I looked up at one of the paintings and looked into the yellow eyes of one of the two female yōkai whose portraits hang there. This lady had marks on her cheek that were different in color from Inuyasha and Sesshomaru. Besides the golden eyes, the white hair and the pointed ears I didn't see anything else to tell me that she was Inuyasha's grandmother. Yes, she had the markings like what Inuyasha showed when his yōkai blood had taken him over, but at this point I was starting to think that all yōkai of his kind had similar markings on their face with some small changes.

No one knew if she was still alive or not. Providing nothing had happened to her, there was no reason why she wouldn't still be alive. The only one who had seen her in the last two hundred years happened to have been Sesshomaru and he didn't seemed inclined to say why she came to him. Well, he didn't seemed inclined to tell Inuyasha anyway.

"I think I'll tell Kouga and Sango tonight," I heard him say.

"Ha?" I asked not believing what I heard. _I didn't hear what I thought I heard. I heard what I was saying and mixed his words into that._ "What did you say?" I asked Inuyasha as I got closer to him. He had gotten a little ahead of me. I seemed to have stopped and was looking at the painting as he continued walking.

"I think I'm going to tell Kouga and Sango about us tonight," he said. I walked behind of him in silence as we now made our way up the stairs to the second floor. What could I say? I was surprised, but it was something that had to be done and telling them first might be a good thing. I started to think of how it would be taken when I saw two sets of small eyes that would be looking at us from across the table.

"Are you going to tell Shippo and Rin tonight too?" I asked him.

"Why not?" he asked as he kept on walking.

"Why not?" I asked him as we turned the last corner before we reached our room. "They're kids. Shouldn't we tell them differently and at a different time?" I asked him. I watched him as he walked into our room.

"Shippo isn't that young," he said. "I'm sure he already knows of other male couples. He lived with yōkai until he started traveling with us. As for Rin," he shrugged his shoulders. He then stood and ran his fingers though his long strands of black hair taking out the now loose ribbon as he did so. "She might surprise us and be happy for you. You're her favorite out of all of us not counting Sesshomaru and she has gotten use to other demon things," he added before he started to strip on the other side of the bed.

I watched Inuyasha as he untied then dropped his hakama before starting to work on his fundoshi. "Besides, it's not something that we should be hiding from just them," he said as he got the last of it untangled from his body. It fell to the floor too before he walked in my direction and started to untie my own clothing. It didn't take long since I was wearing as much as he was.

I slid my hands up his arms as he worked on my fundoshi. My hands rounded his shoulders and pushed his hair aside. I moved one hand to the back of his neck as I prepared myself to continue the kiss that he had started early now that he had answered my small question. The cloth that was around me fell away as his warm hands held on to my hips.

**- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -**

Thoughts of arriving late and others of not showing up at all were put down by the fact that I wanted to tell the others about the gorgeous man I was about to kiss and maybe fuck before we joined them for dinner. My win over Kouga had excitement pulsing through my body and having Miroku so close to me made me wonder how I was able to keep myself from stripping him down stairs.

"Mumm," I murmured into his mouth as our lips came together and I felt his hand at the back of my head pulling me closer. I felt his tongue as he licked my lips before going inside to touch my tongue. _Oh, I am going to fuck him._ I remembered that the bed was to his right and steered him with the use of his hips until I believed we were in place. I broke our kiss and looked at him before pushing him backwards to fall unto the bed.

I leaned over him with my hands on either side of his body and as he moved further back unto the bed I followed him as we resumed our kiss. I turned and pulled him on top of me and I felt his legs on the outside of my thighs. I was already hard and was brushing against different parts of him between his legs. Each patch of skin had a different feel and each caused the ache in me to hurt just a little more.

I wanted to be in him now, but I had to prepare him first. I moved my right hand to hold onto his cock first and I felt him tremble as I got him harder and collected what pre-cum was already dripping from him. I smeared it around my fingers as I moved them behind of him. Our kissing hadn't stopped but it paused with his mouth pressed against mine as I pushed the first finger in. He sank lower, covering my body with his as he pushed his ass out towards my hand. I pushed my middle finger in as far as I could before pulling it out and pushing it back in.

I felt my own pre-cum as it fell in warm drops unto my skin as Miroku started to breathe quickly unto my lips as his mouth hovered over mine. I hoped that I would be able to hold out until I was able to slide into him without causing him pain. I closed my eyes as I started to tremble. _Stop._ I told myself. _Just think of getting him ready before you come all over his back._ I breathed deeply and slowly a few times to calm myself. I opened my eyes and praised myself for not stopping working my fingers in Miroku as I looked into his face that loomed over me with tightly closed eyes. His legs tightened their hold on me on either side of my chest as I slipped another finger into him. I moved the three fingers in once, then twice, then took them out completely. He was ready.

His thighs relaxed and his hands that were hovering over my chest came back into contact with my skin. He hung his head before he opened his eyes and looked at me. I smiled up at him before I reached for his wrists and pulled them apart so he fell down unto me so I could kiss him again. He kissed me first and I loved the force he put into it. I felt my cock sliding between his ass cheeks. I was more than ready for him.

"Top or bottom?" I asked him when I managed to pull my lips away from his.

"Me or you?" he asked as he gasped for air over face.

"You," I answered him as I pushed his ass closer to my cock. I started to rock between his cheeks that I parted as I waited for him to make up his mind.

"Top," he answered just before I felt his hand on my cock. I felt him slide down lower over my stomach before the only parts I felt of him was one hand that was pressing into my navel and the other one was guiding my cock to his ass. I reached along my sides until found his feet and held on to his ankles as I felt him sliding down over me, encasing me inside himself.

"Aaaahhhh…" was a sound I couldn't stop from coming out of my body. The pressure was perfect. The heat was almost too much and he kept on going until I felt the weight of him settle over my groin.

"Are you ready?" Miroku asked me as he brought his knees back down unto the bed. I nodded my head as I continued to feel. I couldn't speak, I didn't want to speak in fear that I might get rid of what I was currently feeling. I closed my eyes but I still saw him over me. His hair had grown down to the top of his shoulders and as he started to move up and down on my cock I could image it swaying back and forth. Our breathing picked up as I started to push back and come up off the bed to meet him as he came back down.

As he started to moan loader I had to open my eyes to see his face as he came closer to coming. I watched as he cried out and moved faster on and off my cock until he stiffened and held my cock tightly in him as he came. I looked pass the spray of his cum that he shot over my shoulder and into his eyes as they saw everything and nothing at the same time and I exploded into him. My eyes stayed open long enough to see a silly smile take over his lips.


	68. Chapter 68

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

* 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 = Means that it's the same POV just a shift in time.

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Chapter 68

Everyone showed up to the evening meal in a timely manner. Kouga and Sango were the ones doing most of the talking once dinner had started due to all the questions that Rin asked them. They talked about the hunts and other things that they had done with other members of the wolf tribe if not each other. Sango asked what they had done while she was gone, but Shippo and Rin just said that nothing happened and that they just had classes and more classes. Then they remembered to tell her about the few fun games they played with Inuyasha, Miroku, each other and a young Kappa that came looking for Jaken eight days ago.

"A Kappa came here looking for Jaken?" Sango asked. "Why?" she added to get an answer when everyone started to remember the occasion rather than tell her about it.

"He wouldn't tell us, but I'm sure he told Sesshomaru," Miroku told them.

"Did he ask to see Sesshomaru too?" Sango asked.

"No, but we thought that Sesshomaru would know where Jaken was and the Kappa said that he really had to talk to him," Inuyasha said before he went back to eating.

**- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -**

The meal was just about over as I looked over at Miroku. He either had the same idea or he felt me looking at him. Now we were looking at each other as if we could come up with a way to start this without actually speaking. My eyes left his for a moment as I looked around the table that seemed a bit larger now that Sesshomaru and Kagome weren't there. Rin was already full and was rolling something around on the table with her finger while she waited for Shippo to finish what he was eating.

Sango and Kouga were talking quietly to themselves, but I still able to make out what they saying. He clearly had enough to eat at dinner and was trying to talk her into, I turned away so I would not pick up on the rest of what he was saying. _Ready or not._ I told myself as I placed my hands on the table. _I wonder if I should stand or just stay seated?_

"We have some good news," I heard Miroku say before I turned to look at him in surprise.

"We are going to be mated," he said in a loud and happy voice as he smiled around the room before taking a sip of what he had in his cup. I turned and looked at the people seated at the table. Rin stopped playing with what turned out to be small self-made rice ball. Shippo slowly lowered his chopsticks and just looked at each of us in turn. Kouga looked, well he just looked at both of us also, but he seemed to have been thinking about something and didn't look that surprised.

Sango then became the most interesting one to watch. First there was clearly surprise showed on her face. She looked at me the longest before turning to look at Miroku, then it changed and changed in an unexpected way. She smiled and it got wider until she choked on a laugh. I looked at Miroku quickly before I looked back at her. Now she was laughing out loud as she placed the cup she was holding down unto the table.

"What girl did you find to say 'yes'?" she asked. _Was she talking to Miroku or me?_ "Miroku, I hope you used another line other than 'Will you be the mother of my child?' on the poor girl," she said as she claimed down and wiped some tears from the corner of her left eye.

_How dare she!_ Was all I thought before I heard myself speak.

"I am NOT a girl!" I found myself shouting at her. When I saw the shock in her eyes I realized that I had stood up to say so. I continued to stand and stared her down until she really started to look confused.

"You can't mean…?" her question trailed off as I started to sit.

"So that's why you two are in the same room," Kouga said with a smirk.

"Don't go thinking anything about Miroku you flea bag," I told him in a clam but threatening voice that I was trying to pick up from Sesshomaru.

"Wouldn't dream of it," he said as he raised his hands but continued to smile in both our directions. "I have my Sango. I don't need to think of your monk," he said as he slid an arm around Sango's waist which she didn't even appear to notice.

Sango was starting to worry me.

"How would you have babies?" I heard from the other side of the table. It was Rin. Once again I looked at Miroku but he just looked at me before turning to look at Sango again. I turned back to Rin and tried to think of something to tell her. Since I didn't really think of it myself before, I took a while. _RIN! That's it. _

"We can't have a baby between the two of us, but we can get a ward like you," I told her. I smiled hoping the answer was good enough for her.

"Or they can have a common wife and have babies with her," I heard coming from Shippo's direction. He then went back to finish eating. I felt like hitting him upside his head for telling that to Rin. It was fine if she knew that two guys were together but to have her think that women would be shared between them seemed a bit too much. It was unneeded information. Information that I did didn't even know about. _How did he?_

"How do you know about a 'common wife'?" I asked him. He blinked up from his bowl and broke off the piece of fish he had in his mouth and chewed before he was able to answer the question.

"My mother was a common wife to my father and my uncle," he said before he went back to eating. _Wow, _was all I could think as I looked at him eating the last grains of rice from his bowl.

"How long?" pulled me from the thoughts I almost considered asking him. It was Sango and she didn't sound happy.

"How long have the two of you been together?" she was asking Miroku.

"When you went to stay with Kouga and his clan for the first time," he told her. She then looked back at me.

"That long?" she asked. I don't think she really wanted us to answer that question. "All that time and you didn't bother to tell us until now?" she asked. I wasn't sure if we were suppose to answer that one either. "What about Kagome?" she said while looking at me. "Why didn't you wait until she got back? Why tell just us now?"

She waited for an answer this time. I thought about my reasons why and then told her what I told Miroku early that day.

"I decided that it was time to tell you and we are going to tell Kagome, but I wanted you to be able to help her not take it so hard and that won't happen if you find out the same time she does," I told her.

She turned and looked down at the wooden surface as she now held her forehead in her hands with her elbows on the table.

"What on earth will Sesshomaru say?" she asked. I wasn't sure if it was a real question or not, but I felt like answering that one.

"He already knows," I told her. "He is the one who placed us in the same room remember?"

"Yeah, but I thought that was just something he was doing. He placed Shippo with Rin, and I could have stayed with Kagome, but…" she trailed off since we all knew why she wasn't sharing a room with Kagome. She then turned to look at the two of use again. "You really are happy?" she asked.

"Yes, we are happy," Miroku told her. I wanted to hear what else she had to say and hoped that she didn't feel like I had to say the same thing Miroku did to believe us.

"Then I wish you both continued happiness," she said with a small smile on her face. She still looked cautious for some reason, but a bit less concerned now.

"Thank you Sango," Miroku said as he reached out and hugged her. I had forgotten about the servants behind the screen door as they waited for us to either leave for them to clean or to call them in to clean if we decided to stick around and talk some more. But now I heard their murmuring and I knew they heard just about everything that was said and that it had already reached the kitchen by now, but I wasn't bothered. Most of them already knew if they hadn't seen Miroku and me lying in bed together. _Katsu._ I had to fight a growl down when I thought of him openly looking at Miroku in our bed.

The real news that was being spread was most likely that our friends now knew and that Kagome would be told when she returned with Sesshomaru by the time we all sat down for our next meal.

I stood, again happy that all of this was over with for now and was ready to go to bed, when Sango surprised me. Everyone else believed that the meal was over and got up to leave when I didn't say anything, but Sango was soon standing beside of me and gave me a hug. I didn't know what to do. She had never hugged me before. I was grateful that it was a short hug because it was uncomfortable not knowing what to do with my own arms and the pressing of her breasts on my chest was odd and distracting in another odd way.

"I'll help you keep an eye on him," she told me as she pulled back to look up into my face.

"Thanks," I told her not knowing what else to say.

"What do you mean by that?" Miroku asked her as she walked away with Kouga at her side.

"Don't play innocent Monk," she said over her back as she walked out the door. I looked back and saw that Rin and Shippo were still there.

"Come on, dinner's over. Go get ready for bed," I told them as I waved them towards the door. Miroku and I made it to the door before them and he held it open so we could all step through.

"Inuyasha-sama?" Rin asked.

"Yes Rin," I answered her as I stood on the other side of the door watching her walk through.

"When will you and Miroku be mated?" she asked me, before looking at Miroku. Another question that I hadn't given much thought to. I knew it would be soon, but I just wanted to get past telling everyone that mattered first. I scratched my head as I thought about what Masami-sama told me.

"A fortnight I think," I told her. I didn't really think there would be a reason to wait any longer than that. Miroku didn't have any real family besides that drunken monk that looked after him somehow and that badger that just showed up every now and again. My family would only be Sesshomaru and Rin, kind of, until Sesshomaru mated. Then I would have to call Kagome aniyome.

"WHhhaattt?" came from down the hall. We all turned to see Jaken standing next to another green creature that appeared to be younger than him. It was Juro, he was back.

**# ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ #**

**Kappa** - Jaken's race of little green imps.

**Aniyome** - Elder brother's wife; sister-in-law.


	69. Chapter 69

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

* 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 = Means that it's the same POV just a shift in time.

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Chapter 69

"Juro," Rin squeaked with happiness as she ran down the hall to hug her new friend.

"Hello Rin," we heard him say as we came closer. He smiled up at her before turning and bowing to Inuyasha. "My Lord," he then said.

"Juro," Inuyasha greeted him. He then raised his head and looked at us both.

"I wish to congratulate you both on becoming mates," he told us.

"Thank you," Inuyasha told him.

"Thank you Juro," I echoed.

**- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -**

_Inuyasha-sama was matting the leaching monk? Did he have to pick a ningen too like m'lord? To think that both of them will be doing such an injustice to their blood line with such unworthy ningens._ I felt myself as I started to shake with rage. I couldn't say what I wanted out loud because m'lord had told me to treat his hanyou brother with respect. _At least mate with a demon that would bring respect to yourself and the house that rules these lands._ Is what I wanted to say to him, but I couldn't do it. I came to speak with m'lord. Being in his presence would calm my nerves.

"Where is m'lord?" I asked in a tone that wouldn't come off too disrespectful. They looked at me and Inuyasha-sama appeared displeased. "Of couse I'm filled with joy for Lord Inuyasha and his further mate," I said with a happiness I didn't feel. "But I do need to speak with m'lord," I said again.

"Sesshomaru-sama isn't here," little Rin told me. "He will be back the day after tomorrow," she continued. I looked down at the clean bamboo floor and shook my head. I raised my eyes and looked into all their faces.

"I will return then," I told them. "My lord Inuyasha," I said as I bowed before turning and leaving with Juro not too far behind of me.

**- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -**

The door closed and Master Jarken was gone with his friend Juro. I turned and looked up at Inuyasha-sama and Miroku. They were still looking at the door as if they expected it to open again.

"Rin will go to bed now," I told them to get their attention.

"Good night Rin," Inuyasha-sama said as Miroku reached out a hand and touched my hair.

"Sleep well Rin," I heard Miroku say as I ran down the hall to the stairs.

"You too," I shouted back at them before turning and going up the stairs. _That boy Shippo._ He left instead of waiting for me. _I always waited for him. _I ran down the hallways leading to our room. I wanted to tell him that Juro was here. As I turned down the last hallway I slowed down to a walk and raised a hand to cover a yawn.

I pushed open the door to our room to see Shippo already curled up in bed and asleep. I walked over to his side and looked down at him. He looked a little different. I looked over his body to see what the something was and I saw his little fox feet sticking out from under the covers. They were suppose to be covered. I pulled it lower so he wouldn't get cold and the blanket moved lower down on him. _It was too short for him. How? It use to fit him._ I pulled it back up and I saw his feet again. I stood there not understanding why it wouldn't fit him anymore, but I know he can't sleep like that. _He'll get a cold or something._

I walked over to where Yuri kept some other blankets and pulled one out. I held it to my chest with both my arms to make sure I didn't drag it on the floor. When I was standing by his side of the bed again I opened it up and dropped it over his legs. _There, he should be warm now._ I told myself as I moved off towards my side.

I dropped everything where I got undressed and reached for the night clothes that Yuri had placed on the bed for me. As usual they were a little cold as I pulled them on, but by the time I crawled into bed I didn't feel them anymore and was warm again as I laid down.

_When is my birthday?_ It was an odd question and I didn't know why I asked, but I also didn't know why I couldn't remember. It was my birthday. _I should remember my own birthday._ I don't know how I forgot it. I need a birthday or I won't know how old I am. _How do I get a new birthday? Sesshomaru-sama._ _I'll ask Sesshomaru-sama for a new birthday. _Sesshomaru-sama can do anything. He has done so many things, I'm sure he can get me a new birthday.

My eyes started to get heavy. I turned and looked over at Shippo. His red hair…

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"Kagome," I said against her skin before I kissed lower on her chest. I had forgotten about the glow that we full demons always saw covering everything, but she reminds me just how unique it is when I see her body shine. Her light came from within so brightly as the formula she drank took over every pore of her body. I tightened my arms around her hips as I pressed my mouth to her flesh and licked her skin.

_She tastes wonderful._ I heard the small bottle as it fell to the floor from her right hand. I ignored it as it rolled along the floor and across the room. I felt her hand on my back as it moved up under my hair. Her fingers slid between the strands and held my head to her chest.

I opened my mouth wider and sucked on her breast drawing half of it into my hungry mouth.

"AH!" I heard as she gasped out loud. I licked at her skin and nipple before pulling it free of my lips.

I looked at her bent neck for a moment longer than what was wise in my current state of arousal. I was almost in pain with the desire to clam her as I watched her swallow. One hand moved before the other and I held the back of her head as we were pulled towards each other.

If she tried to support herself, she utterly failed. I felt all her weight as she leaned then laid on my body. I laid backwards slowly, not breaking our kiss, to lay her over me. I started to kiss down her neck again when I wanted to change our positions. I braced her body against mine and quickly reversed our places in this tangle of limbs.

Her legs were about my waist, but they slid down to my thighs as I knelt between her own. I disrobed with her eyes on me watching each move I made. I could feel every stroke of her eyelashes each time she blinked. I leaned over her body with only my hair touching her as I lifted each leg to free myself of my hakama and 'briefs'.

I then knelt down again and finished removing what was left of Kagome's clothing. When the top half of her body was bare and the bottom half of her garments were bunched mid-thigh I removed her legs from around me and raised them up into the air and watched as the last of her was reviled to my eyes.

I held her legs up after I had tossed aside what she was wearing and looked at the back of her calves. I followed the changing color of her skin as my eyes traveled down to the back of her knees, pass the wide softer flesh of thighs until her body curved into her back that laid on the mat that covered the floor.

I opened her legs with both hands and spread them to either side of my body. I pushed gently on the inside of her thighs as I licked the salt and her scent from her skin. I felt a tremor as it moved inside of her body and along her skin. I licked and kissed my way back up her body. Her form arched and twisted under my mouth, hands and body as I got closer to her lips again.

"Kagome," I moaned before I claimed her lips, pressed our hips together and felt her legs pulling on mine again.

"Sesshomaru," she answered in a voice that conveyed her desire as I pressed my member firmly against her moist opening. Her hot hands slid into my hair and held my head to her breast that my lips had found on their own. My hands held her hips to the floor and I pressed harder against her. I felt her moisture as it covered the length of me and confirmed that she was ready to be entered.

I pulled back and slid into her in one smooth stroke. Her rocking paused as she held on and squeezed me as I filled her completely. I couldn't stay still for long and started to move in and out of her warm insides. Kagome's hands moved to my shoulders. Her new stronger nails dug into my skin as I started to move faster. Her smell sweetened the air around us as it mixed with the dizzying spice of my own hot blood. I didn't want to hurt her, but I couldn't slow down.

The sound of our flesh as they continued to slap into each other was a drum that gave me a beat to keep to as I drew both of us to obliteration. The red tint that took over my vision fifteen minutes ago darkened to a deeper red that succeeded in blocking everything from my sight but the glowing woman beneath me whose moans were getting louder. Her hands were now digging into the floor as she arched up, pressing into my body as her's started to tremble.

My breathing doubled in speed, my moans turned into growls and I opened my mouth wider as I felt my canine teeth lengthened. I barely saw her as I looked at her face one last time before focusing in on her right shoulder.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHH..." Kagome screamed past my ear as one of her hands now held on to me again and dug in harder as I orgasmed into her body and held on to her shoulder with my mouth.

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"Ha, ha, ha, ha..." no words could come out of me. _I don't think I could scream again if I wanted to,_ I thought before turning my head to look at Sesshomaru. He was licking my shoulder with his eyes closed. I shifted slightly and realized that he had already pulled out of me and was just laying in between my legs. I made myself lift one of my tried and very heavy hands to touch his face. _BLOOD!_

"What's wrong?"I heard him ask me. I just continued to look at my fingers that were covered in blood.

_What did I do?_ I asked myself. I couldn't think of anything. _We were making love, what could I have done?_

"Kagome?" he said a bit louder.

"Blood," I said quietly as I continued to look at my hand. There was a smudge of it on his cheek, but I couldn't touch him again.

"It's ok," he said as I watched him cover my hand with one of his. "It's mine and I'm ok," Sesshomaru said. I looked away from both our hands to his face.

"I hurt you?" I asked him as the idea of that being possible sounded impossible at the same time.

"Just a little," he confessed as he pulled my hand towards his face and blocked my view of what I couldn't help but feel. _He's licking the blood from my fingers. _He sucked each one clean before I saw my smaller fingers as they peaked out from behind his own. I pulled my hand free and reached towards his face again. I wiped the blood away with the back of my hand before holding his face still as I pulled myself closer to kiss him.

"AH!" I shouted in surprise as pain shot out from my shoulder. My eyes were closed tightly as I waited for the pain to go away and I kept them closed when I felt Sesshomaru as he moved me to lie back down again.

"I'm sorry Kagome," I heard him say before I felt his tongue on the back of my hand and then on my shoulder once more. I felt something of a healing tingle as it moved through my aching shoulder after each pass of his tongue. My eyes relaxed and I slowly lifted the arm that was closest to him and laid it on what I hoped was his shoulder. _I feel so tired._

"Ses...sho...ma...ru...


	70. Chapter 70

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Chapter 70

_Who is knocking?_ I turned my head and shifted slightly to feel Miroku as he pulled me back into contact with his body. I lazily smelled the air while I kept my eyes closed. _It didn't smell like Katsu. It's Amaya._

"Enter," I said a moment before I thought of making sure we were covered. I sat up and saw that we were covered just as she opened the door. I looked at her as my eyes started to feel heavy again.

"Breakfast will be ready soon," she said after she bowed. As relieved as I was that it wasn't looking at the head of the guards this morning, it raised the question as to why he wasn't here.

"Amaya, ..." I paused for a moment to think of what I wanted to ask.

"Yes Inuyasha-sama?" she asked me.

"Is my brother back?" I asked her. That had to be why Katsu didn't wake me up over an hour ago for his report.

"Yes, Inuyasha-sama. He arrived with Kagome-sama early this morning," she said.

"Ok," I said as I laid down again and closed my eyes hoping that I would be able to wake up and get to breakfast on time. I heard the door close and my eyes snapped back open. _She said Kagome-sama. She has never said Kagome-sama._

"Miroku, wake up," I said as I turned and shook him.

"Mumm," he moaned as he now turned away.

"Miroku," I said again. He turned and opened one eye to look at me.

"Is it time for breakfast?" he asked.

"Yes it's time for breakfast," I told him. I was about to tell him that Sesshomaru was back when he pulled the blanket off of me.

"Hey. What you doing?" I asked him as he kissed my belly button.

"I'm getting up," he said in a low voice as he hovered over my cock.

"We didn't have time... for..." I said before I fell into the heat of his mouth.

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We walked out of our room as I finished tying my robes into place.

"So you really think that he marked her?" I asked Inuyasha as we walked down the hall.

"You'll see when we get downstairs," he told me as he placed his hands into the large sleeves of his purple kimono.

"SESSOMARU-SAMA! SESSHOMARU-SAMA!" It was Rin screaming. I felt Inuyasha next to me as we both ran down the hallway and turned to go down another one that would take us to where we heard the screams coming. Before we arrived at the child's door there was a blur of light and Sesshomaru stood in front of us before he stepped into Rin and Shippo's room.

"What is going on?" I heard from behind of us just as we reached the room. I turned and saw Sango in the lead with Kouga by her side and Kagome not to far behind. I turned and looked into the room without giving her an answer. Simply because I didn't have an answer to give her.

First I saw Inuyasha's back, then Sesshomaru's. To their far right was Rin who was looking at a red haired child that was half a foot taller than her looking into a mirror. His clothes didn't fit him very well. His hamaka reminded of me of the 'shorts' that I saw Kagome wear every once in a while. His legs seemed in portion with is body, but they weren't human. _Fox feet?_

"Shippo?" I asked as I walked into the room. I kept on walking until I could see his reflection in the mirror in front of him. It was Shippo. Older looking, but it was him.

"You aren't playing some kind of trick on us are you runt?" Inuyasha asked him without looking like he believed it himself.

"No it's true. Shippo is bigger. It started last night," Rin said as she continued to look at him with wide eyes. Sesshomaru stepped closer and looked him over.

"Is it normal for your kind to grow in spurts?" he asked him.

"I don't think so," Shippo answered Sesshomaru.

"What about your family? Didn't you say that you had an older sister? Did she grow up in spurts?" Sango asked from my left.

"I do have an older sister, but I didn't see her growing up. She then lived with us for three years before she left with my mom fours years before I lost my dad. I don't even know where she is now," he answered.

Silence hung in the room while everyone continued to look at Shippo including Shippo himself. I saw someone as they moved past me and I realized that it was Kagome. She walked over to him and knelt down to look into his face as she turned him to look at her. She got a closer look of him and the other changes that had taken place. She raised a hand and ruffled his hair before holding both his hands with hers.

"How do you feel Shippo?" she asked him. He paused for a moment as he thought about the answer. He then smiled before giving his reply.

"Taller," was his simple answer.

"Hahahah," Kagome laughed while the rest of us looked on with a slightly changed attitude. Rin happily giggled as she dismissed the fears that she had from earlier. "I think his visit to Masami-sama can wait until after breakfast," Kagome said as she turned to look up at Sesshomaru.

"As you wish," he answered before turning and leaving the room. As I stepped aside and out of Sesshomaru's way I heard Kagome talking.

"Come on your two. Let's go get something to eat." I turned and saw her with a smile on her face as she stood and held out her hands for Rin and Shippo to take. She then walked pass each of us with the children. As she left through the door, I felt the others as they came closer to me.

"Something seems different about Kagome," Sango said.

"I told you," Inuyasha said from my other side.

"What are you talking about?" Sango asked.

"Sesshomaru-sama marked her," Kouga said from Sango's other side.

"Did you see the mark?" I asked anyone.

"I didn't see it, but she does smell like him," Kouga answered.

"I don't need to hear that," Inuyasha said in a slightly disgusted tone before he moved away from the group and towards the door. "We should get going," he said as he stepped outside. "We shouldn't keep them waiting."

We then moved to follow Inuyasha with me being first. It wouldn't help for us to be late with the news that we had to tell them.

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Kouga held my hand was we walked out the room behind Miroku and I grasped it in return. _There is so much new information for me to come to term with,_ I thought as I watched Miroku catch up with Inuyasha and walked by his side.

I didn't quite see those two as a couple, but it explained a lot about how they have been acting for months. But, I still saw two friends walking side by side as I watched them as they turned the corner ahead of us. I won't be the one to deny them happiness if they have found that with each other. Just like I won't stop Kagome if she is happy with Sesshomaru. _Sesshomaru-sama of all demons_. A demon is a surprise in itself. I thought that she would have fallen for a human. I hoped it would be one in her own time. She always tried to change things to how she did them back in her own time. All of her ideas weren't bad, just odd and inconvenient at times.

"What do you think about Kagome being mated with Sesshomaru-sama?" I asked Kouga before we started down the stairs. He took his time answering the question. We reached the ground floor before I heard him starting to give me an answer.

"He seems to be good for her," he said. "I tried to control her for a short time, but I think Sesshomaru-sama seem to have succeeded."

He was right. She did seem to be more … focused and for all we knew, Sesshomaru-sama told Kagome to take the necklace off of Inuyasha. If he was the one behind her actions, then I look forward to not having to live through bickering fights between those two as we continue to gather the jewel shards.

"Ready to see how Kagome takes the news?" Kouga asked me as we came to a stop outside of the dinning room. I breathed in and held it as I hoped that she had changed enough to understand before I let out the breath I was holding.

"Yes. As ready as I'll ever be," I told him before reaching out and holding his arm to keep him still as I reached up to kiss him. He watched me as I reached out for the door and pulled it open.


	71. Chapter 71

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Chapter 71

As we sat there I watched Inuyasha and Miroku as they made it into the dinning room before Kouga and Sango. I smiled at them before a thought wandered through my mind. _They seemed to have behaved themselves._ I had to stop myself from turning to look at Sesshomaru.

_What do you mean by behave? _I asked him as I reached out and patted Rin's head.

_I think that you will find out soon enough, _he answered.

_What am I going to find out? _ I asked him without meaning too.

_You will have to wait. I made a promise, _was the last thing he said before he raised a shield to his mind and the rest of his thoughts. I'm sure that he continued to hear everything that moved through my mind, but I wouldn't be able to read all of his thoughts until we're mated. I almost crossed my arms at the unfairness of it all, but I was distracted when I heard Sango and Kouga as they walked further into the room.

When everyone was seated I was once again remembered how much I had been looking forward to breakfast before a screaming Rin had gotten our attention. I watched as each bowl was placed before me. I lived in the smell and steam of the Miso soup until I was able to start eating.

I dug in and enjoyed each bite. Sesshomaru wanted to be back in time to spear Inuyasha the task of receiving the morning report or so I read from his mind when he woke me up. That caused me to ask him my first question without meaning to. _I can read your mind?_ He then explained, with real words, why we now knew what each other was thinking.

"It's because we marked each other," he said as he cupped my face. _You are beautiful._ I heard him say in my mind again. "It's not as strong as it would normally be, but it will get stronger in time and even more so once we are mated," he told me with a gentle look on his face. _Let's get ready to leave. You will have a splendid breakfast when we arrive._

I picked up the plate with the eggs and added some rice to it as I remembered clinging to Sesshomaru as we flew over the trees to get here. I held him close and he held me closer with his tail and his arms as well. Occasionally I felt his fingers as they moved through my hair and along my neck and I got bits of what was going through his mind, but I didn't try to probe and just enjoyed the feeling of his arms around me and warmth that was coming from him that kept me warm.

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This was going to be an eventful morning. I'm glad that I decided to stay. I grinned openly before I drank the last of the tea from my cup before refilling it and turning my attention to what was left of my meal. I wasn't going to have anything left in front of me to distract me in anyway from anything that was going to be said and in doing so have a full stomach to enjoy the forth coming entertainment.

I felt a small twinge for guilt for thinking that what will occur in front of me will be entertaining, but I knew that Mutt Face would do or say something that would make the whole thing entertaining in one way or another.

When I had eaten that last bit of any food that was before me I looked over at my mate-to-be who hadn't finished her meal and seemed to be having a hard time eating anymore than what she already had. Besides looking down at her food she sent several glances in Kagome's direction. I looked at Kagome too but she seemed fine each time.

I reached under the table and patted Sango's leg, hoping that would clam her a bit. She looked up at me and smiled a bit before trying to eat some more. I left my hand on her thigh and she made no signals to have me remove it. Now we waited.

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I looked around the table. Everyone appeared to have finished eating. Even the kitsune had finally stopped after he had almost two of everything. When the meal was being placed before us, he had received double portions. While Kagome and I were waiting for the others, Rin informed us of the kitsune's large apatite the night before.

As I saw Sango place her cup down and didn't reach for her chopsticks that she had placed on one of her bowls I reached out for the bell to summon the servants. I looked over the table, it's occupants and the organized clearing of the table that moved along silently.

Something felt a bit off from everyone and it wasn't from the change we all saw in the kitsune. I can only suspect that it has something to do with my brother and his monk lover. I knew that some humans had this taboo attitude towards members of the same sex bedding each other, but I never understood it. _How would Kagome take this? _It was something I hadn't considered as having anything to do with us being together, but what if it was something that would cause her to think differently of me?

_Why would I think differently of you? _I looked at her with a truly blank mind.

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"Ahm, Kagome, there is something we have to tell you," I heard Inuyasha say. _Say? What was Sesshomaru saying? What did Inuyasha say? _I turned to face Inuyasha without having a clue what he was going to say. He just sat there looking back at me.

"Well?" I asked him after a while. It wasn't like him to not come out and tell me something. Unless that something could hurt me. I started to look around the table. Sango looked worried. Kouga just seemed to be waiting for something. Sesshomaru looked slightly worried but I didn't know if that had to do with what he was saying just before Inuyasha started to speak or if it had to do with what he was about to say. Rin and Shippo was just showing as much interest as kids could show without looking excited.

"It can't be that bad," I said as I looked at Inuyasha again.

"Well I don't think so, but I'm not sure how you are going to take it," he said. "You remember when I told you that I was in love with someone else?" he then asked me. I nodded. "Well they have returned my feelings and we would like to get mated as soon as possible now that Naroku is dead."

"Ok," I said as all eyes now turned towards me. "That's wonderful. Did you think I would be upset?" I asked the room more than Inuyasha. "I'm happy for you," I said with a real smile. "When do I get to to meet her?" I asked him, curious to find out if I knew her already.

"It's not a girl and you already know him. The person I'm in love with is Miroku," he ended. My brain was short circuiting. I felt it. Every time I thought of something to say I couldn't think beyond the second word. Finally something come out of my mouth.

"Miroku," I stated. I didn't ask. I turned to look at him. Again the questions quick fried and died before they became much of anything.

"Yes Kagome," he said. I hadn't meant for him to answer me, but then one thought came through.

"You are in love with Inuyasha?" I asked him. _He better be in love with Inuyasha with all that he was going through with telling me and in front of Kouga no less. _

"Yes I am," he told me. They didn't look at each other but continued to look at me.

_No Kagome, this isn't a joke._ I heard Sesshomaru say inside my head.

"Ok," I said out loud. _There has to be more to this. _"Is that the only thing you had to tell me?" I asked as friendly as possible.

"We are going to be mated," Miroku said.

"Soon," Inuyasha then added.

"How soon?" I asked them. Now they looked at each other.

"Next month," Inuyasha answsered.


	72. Chapter 72

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Chapter 72

_Damn. _I looked between Kagome and Inuyasha. No one was loosing their temper. Kagome seemed a bit more surprised at when they were getting mated, than that they were getting mated at all. _Oh well. _

I looked over at Sango and reached out for her hand. She looked more stressed than Kagome did at the moment. _She must still be waiting for Kagome to still take things badly. _She held my hand before looking at me. I smiled and she smiled back and her shoulders didn't look as stiff anymore.

"You've made plans without telling me?" Kagome's voice sounded a little high. "You are probably only telling me now because you couldn't keep it from me anymore," she said as she tried to stand. _Yes! _I almost couldn't believe it. I looked at Inuyasha and he was still too stunned to say anything. I looked back at Kagome to see Sesshomaru-sama's hand on her shoulder keeping her in her seat.

"You have our blessings brother. I will look for you later in the day to help you with the details that you haven't thought through yet," Sesshomaru-sama told Inuyasha.

"Thank you Nii-sama," he said. He was no longer looking confused just disappointed. _Damn, this wasn't what I wanted to see either._ Sango held my hand abit tighter before she let go and started to stand, but I held on to her hand and kept her from getting up.

"Sesshomaru-sama, we of the Eastern Wolf Tribe wish to congratulate you on the upcoming mating of your brother Inuyasha-sama," I then turned to Inuyasha as I continued. "And to you Inuyasha-sama for having found such a befitting mate." I looked over and saw Sango and she kinda bowed with me as she waited to see where I was going with all this.

"Sesshomaru-sama," I said after I had turned back towards him. "Would it be possible to conclude the business of who will accompany your mate-to-be on her quest to retrieve the remaining shards of the Shikon Jewel and when it would begin? I also have a mating ceremony to plan and attend," I ended.

I knew I sounded formal and a lot unlike myself, but this was business and this was how you conducted business. Sesshomaru-sama's hand remained on Kagome's shoulder and it took him a moment to look in our direction. I believed that he was talking with Kagome mentally and by the look on her face I couldn't tell how well it was going. I hoped I wouldn't have to repeat everything that I had just said.

"Yes, we should have that settled," Sesshomaru-sama said as he took his hand off of Kagome's shoulder. "I believe that I had already pledged my participation to this endeavor, as has my brother," he paused. "Have you come to your own decision on the matter?" he then asked. I turned and looked at Sango.

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama. I will join Kagome in her quest," she said. He nodded his head at her acceptance.

"Shippo and Rin will remain here and continue with their classes," Sesshomaru-sama said. "As for when we will take up this quest, I will need to talk with my brother to find a date that is agreeable. Do you have a date for when you will be ready to begin?" he asked Sango.

"Within the next two moons would be ideal. Our mating ceremony is planed for later in the year, but we do wish to have most of the jewel shards gathered by then," she said. We were being hopeful. We had no real clue how many shards there were to be found.

"Very well," Sesshomaru-sama said as he looked to be preparing to stand. "If you wish to return to your clan with your mate-to-be, you may. We will send word of the day we will celebrate my brother's mating and the day our quest begins. Or," he said before a pause "Lord Kouga you could stay the moon until my brother's mating before both of you return to the Northwest." I looked over at Sango, but I already knew what my answer was.

"I will ask Sango if she wishes to stay for the ceremony, but I'm afraid that I can not stay any longer than today." Although she had just gotten back, Inuyasha wouldn't be mated for a whole moon at least. She could come and stay with us until then.

"That is regrettable, but understandable." Sesshomaru-sama turned and looked at Sango. "Inuyasha and myself will meet with you just before noon to plan a date for his mating and when we will start looking for the jewel shards again," he said as he stood. He turned to look at Kagome before looking at Rin and Shippo. "It is time for your classes Rin, but Shippo will not be joining you this morning. We are taking him to Masami-sama," he told the little girl. She looked from him to Shippo who sat between them before looking at him again.

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama," she said before getting up and leaving the room. We all watched her leave before I heard Kagome as she now stood.

"I'll see you guys later," she said as she took a hold of Shippo's hand and walked with him, behind of Sesshomaru-sama, out of the room.

"That went rather well," Miroku said after a few moments of silence.

"You didn't expect that it would?" Inuyasha asked him.

"Well I know that you didn't think so from what you said last night," Miroku told him.

"But it did turn out well," Sango said as she spoke up. Everyone looked at her. She adjusted her clothing and I heard her heart beat as it finally settled into the rhythm that I was use to hearing it play. I rested my hand on her knee again and she looked at me with a smile. "And I think that I will be going home with you tomorrow too," she said as she stood.

"You aren't staying? But you just got back," I said as I walked after her and out into the hall.

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I looked over at Miroku and saw him looking at me. I stood and placed my hand on the table before leaning over towards him. He shifted more to his left as I came closer and just before my lips touched his I closed my eyes. I felt him pushing back against me as I opened my mouth for him. Our tongues touched and my body relaxed. I felt as he tilted his head more to the right and I started to close my lips to him and pulled out of the kiss before making contact again for a shorter, close mouthed kiss. I then pulled back all the way to smile at him. _This is the first of many impulsive kisses_, I told myself.

"This is my second wedding and I'm not even twenty-five years old," he said with fake disappointment in himself and he rolled his head and looked from one end of the celling to the other.

"Fewh," I said with a grin. He turned his eyes towards me and grinned like his old self.

"So what do we do now?" Miroku asked me as he now started to stand.

"Well," I said as I got up and walked towards the door with him. "I'm meeting with Sesshomaru later to talk about details of the ceremony. What day do you want to get mated on?" I asked him as we stepped out into the hallway. He closed the door before looking at me again.

"I'll think of an answer while you're at the Dojo," he told me.

"I'll see you before lunch then," I said as I stood there in front of him. Miroku reached out and laid his hand on my waist before he moved past me to walk towards the stairs with a new smile lingering on his lips.

I watched him walk away before I turned and headed towards the Dojo to meet with the snake sensei.

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_When do I want to get mated?_ I asked myself as I walked up the stairs. I stopped and looked back at Inuyasha's back as he walked away from me. _His birthday, _I thought. I turned back to my current activity and finished walking up the stairs and turned to walk towards our bedroom.

_Why not his birthday?_ I wondered. It wouldn't be so bad. He would never forget it. I would never forget and since we would be having the turning ceremony I wouldn't be leaving him with a date that he would dread every year, if I stayed a human and died. Best of all it would soon. Two weeks from now I think.

I looked up to see where I was and was surprised to realize that I had made it there already. I opened the room and the bed caught my eye. All of a sudden I felt tried and wanted to lie down. I started to pull my robes off, but as a chill moved over my skin I changed my mind and crawled into the bed and under the sheets fully dressed. _Yes, his birthday is a good day._


	73. Chapter 73

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

* 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 = Means that it's the same POV just a shift in time.

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Chapter73

"Sesshomaru-sama, Kagome-kyou," I said as I bowed. I was downstairs going over some new papers that I had gotten from a fellow yōkai healer that takes care of the ruling family of the southern lands. He had quite a few accounts of turning ceremonies that were performed there over the last four hundred years. From what I was able to see, they seem to be a bit more willing in the south to have their mates become full demons. I guess that it had something to do with that fact that few full demons still existed there and they were trying to raise their numbers. I noticed a red haired kitsune standing next to Kagome-kyou. He was about half her height.

"This is Shippo," Kagome-kyou told me as she placed both her hands on the boy's shoulders. I looked him over and he seemed alright with no outward signs that he was suffering from anything.

"Please sit," I said as I passed my hand over the table and its cushions. As we knelt Mia came closer and poured four cups of tea before moving backwards. We all took a sip before I realized that Kagome-kyou had changed. I looked at them as they seemed lost for a moment. I fought to keep an amused smile off of my lips. They had marked each other and were talking to one another. I watched as their eyes focused and they turned their attention back to me.

"I have brought Kagome so you may check her as I said I would, but before that, we wish to know about kitsune yōkai. When we arrived home earlier today we found that this one had doubled in size since the day before. Is this normal?" he asked as all eyes tuned to the young one. I looked at him again and he looked back at me blinking his large green eyes.

"Are you hungry?" I asked him after a moment. Anyone going through such a growth phase would need extra energy for up to a day after the event. I allowed myself to smile at him as he nodded his head enthusiastically.

"Mia," I called to the girl over by the wall. "Bring a plate of some fresh minced deer and bowl of rice for Shippo," I told her.

"Yes Masami-sama," she said before getting up and leaving the room.

"May I see your hands?" I asked the kitsune as I reached out my own hands towards him.

"Sure," he said as he place his much smaller hands in mine.

"How old are you Shippo?" I asked him as I tuned his hands over. Besides their small size, they had a good color. Nothing stopped the blood flow to any part of his hands or nails, so the rest of his circulation should also be preforming well, but I won't know that for sure until I did a more complete examination.

"I'm about fifty five, but I'm not really sure. A few times I forgot it was my birthday that year until a few days later and I didn't ask my father how old I was," he paused. "Then I haven't really remembered my birthday since my dad died and that was four years ago," he said as his hands started to slip out of mine.

"Do you remember what time of the year you celebrated your birthday Shippo?" Kagome-kyou asked him.

"It is late in the spring time," he said with his head now bent low.

"Don't worry," she said as she pulled him closer for a hug. "I'm sorry not to have asked before, but from now on we will celebrate your birthday," she smiled down at him as she said those words. I then heard soft foot steps as Mia made her way back to the room. I lifted and drank from my cup as she made her way into the room and placed the meal in front of the child.

"That's raw," Kagome-kyou said.

"Of course," I commented as the fox started to eat. "All yōkai have to eat raw meat." I turned more of my attention towards her. I was about to ask her if she had never seen Inuyasha-sama eating raw meat when I realized that they were talking to each other again. I directed my question to the kitsune instead.

"Is this the first time you have had raw meat since your father died?" I asked him as he chewed on what he had in his mouth. I waited until he was able to answer me.

"I have had some, but not as much as when I was with my dad," he said almost quietly as he looked sideways at Kagome-kyou.

"When did you eat raw meat?" she asked looking almost as shocked as when she realized that he was suppose to eat raw meat.

"Inuyasha gave me some when you weren't looking or when you had gone home," he answered before he went back to eating some more.

"I told him..." Kagome-kyou quickly stopped her disapproving comment of Inuyasha-sama's behavior as Sesshomaru-sama told her something I'm sure. She hung her head and I rethought the question I was going to ask her.

"Kagome-kyou," I started. She raised her head to look at me. "You were completely unaware that raw meat contained elements that yōkai need?" I asked her. She nodded her head.

"I always thought that eating raw meat was bad for you. That is why I told Inuyasha that he couldn't have any meat until it was cooked," she looked a bit defeated as she said this.

"Well it is bad for humans, but then there are no yōkai where you come from is there," I calmly told her.

"You know where I come from?" she asked me in surprise.

"When we touched I learned everything about you Higurashi Kagome-kyou of Tokyo, Nippon," I said plainly.

"You've known all this time?" Sesshomaru-sama asked me.

"Yes Sesshomaru-sama," I answered him.

"So you know … about her home?" Sesshomaru-sama asked.

"It is our home too," I said with a smile. "We just haven't seen her part of it yet." I turned my head when I heard the chopsticks being placed on the plate.

"Do you feel better now?" I asked the boy. He smiled and nodded his head. "He seems alright Sesshomaru-sama, but I would be able to tell you more after I've given him a complete examination. I will be able to examine Kagome-kyou afterwords. If that is alright with you?" I asked him.

"Kagome would like to be with him when he gets examined," he told me.

"Yes Sesshomaru-sama," I answered him. I stood and walked around the table before I extended my hand to the boy as walked to my side, which he quickly took. Mia stood before all of us and had the door open before we got there with Kagome-kyou closely behind. I turned and bowed to Sesshomaru-sama before I took my new charges downstairs.

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As I followed Masami-sama down the steps to the lower level of the house I felt the place in my head that Sesshomaru had occupied, since I woke up that day, shrink a bit each time I got a few feet further away from him. I felt less of him. Less of his power. As I felt myself feeling more and more 'normal' I felt a slight panic start to take over. _But he is still there. _Told myself. _Calm down, he is still here and won't completely go away._ I repeated to myself as Masami-sama turned into a room ahead of me still holding Shippo's hand.

When I walked into the room she looked to be doing things any doctor from my time would have done. After a few moments she smiled at me and extended a hand that pointed over to a raised bed that was across the room from her desk. I turned back and nodded at her before I walked over to it.

I thought that maybe she wanted me to lay down for the examination that Sesshomaru wanted her to do on me, but I sat on it instead. I watched as she checked Shippo out the same way my own doctor did the last time I really went to see him. It was just for my yearly check up. He pressed under my jaw line on each side, she did the same with Shippo. He looked into my mouth, she looked into his mouth. The same went for the eyes and ears. She looked at the color of his fur and skin.

She measured his tail, his head, his arms and his legs. Once in a while she would ask him a question or two. Then she did something that looked like magic. Her hands moved around him, without touching even his clothes, as balls of light appeared from her hands. They flew around him while her hands kept moving until there were six of them. Then they started to fly through his body.

I think some stayed in longer than others, but I'm not sure. They all went in at different times and others seem to come out sooner than others, while a few of them repeatedly reentered his body. As they came out him, each of the white orbs moved back into her hand before coming back out and 'inspecting' Shippo again for whatever it was looking for. I haven't a clue how long that lasted, but he was being a trooper and stayed still while all of this went on around him.

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**Swish, Brush, Glide.**

My ears itched from the sounds. _Someone is writing? _I realized that my eyes were closed before I noting that I was laying on my side, on something soft. _Something smells good too. _I pushed myself up and looked around to see that I was still in that room under Masami-sama's house. My noise sniffed the air and I followed it over to what turned out to be a another plate of meat and rice like what I was given upstairs. As I looked at it my mouth started to water. I was hungry again. _Maybe I could take a little bit without her knowing, _I thought as I got a bit closer to the tray.

"That is for you Shippo," I heard her say from the other side of the room. I turned red for a moment at being ashamed that I had thought about stealing some of it before asking and also that she had caught me.

"Thank you Masami-sama," I said as I kept my back to her and sat down on the mat in front of the food and started eating. The deer was good. It kinda reminded me of when my dad and I use to go hunting a long time ago. Before I was finished with the memory, it was replaced with one of when Inuyasha insisted on taking me rabbit hunting. He said that you had to start small and that this was something that you could always hunt, once it wasn't the dead of winter, when you needed something to eat.

_Rabbits are fast,_ I remembered as I ate some more. I looked over and saw that there was large cup on the tray too. I sniffed at it and realized that it seemed to have been made from ginger. _Huumm. I don't think anyone has ever given me ginger to drink before._ I tasted a little bit of it before taking a mouth full. It burned but it tasted good. I smiled at it before putting it back down and mixing some of the rice into the blood on the plate and eating it.

I knew that Kagome was still in room, but I didn't look for her. She was probably having her 'check up' now. No one seemed to need me at the moment so I just continued to eat until it was all gone. _That was good._ I said to myself as I placed down the smooth green chopsticks. As I was reaching I felt my shirt tug around my shoulder. I twisted about trying to find out why it would be doing that now and realized that everything felt too tight on me.

_I grew again._ I realized. I got up and walked back over to the bed and waited for a good time to tell someone.

**- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -**

I shifted my legs so they were now crossed in front of me. My hands I held in my sleeves. I had just gotten Kagome back and I was basking in her smell and nearness again, while enjoying the new bond we had created and now my skin was itching because she wasn't in my sight.

I looked down at the cup full of tea sitting before me. I looked at it's surface and saw the light as it played over it. I stretched my fingers to exercise out the strained grip that I had it in since Kagome left the room. I reached out and took a hold of the cup and felt the heat as it moved out into my fingers. I sipped the liquid and tried to install the calm that normally possessed. I placed the cup back on the wooden surface of the table and placed my hands back into my sleeve.

I closed my eyes and I sought out along the thin connection that I had with Kagome to feel her again. I found her thoughts being occupied with what was being done with her. Our connection wasn't as strong as I would have liked it to be. It was often severed or was too week for me to clearly understand what she was thinking.

I expanded my yōkai beyond the room I sat in. I expected to collide with Masami-sama's yōkai but I hit a barrier instead. It was below ground and the length of the house. It was where she had taken Kagome and Shippo. I pulled my yōkai back and resigned myself to sitting there, uncomfortably, until Kagome's return.

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**Nippon** - is short for "Nippon-koku" which is the official name of Japan. The name mean "sun," "origin," and "country," which is why Japan is often referred to as "the land of the rising sun."


	74. Chapter 74

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

* 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 = Means that it's the same POV just a shift in time.

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Chapter 74

"Oohh. Is she the one that has caused the change in our lord?" a lady next to me asked someone. I looked up and realized that I didn't have to look up as high as I use to. I just had to tilt my head half as much as before and I was looking into her face. She looked ok. Her hair was long and she looked older than Kagome.

"Shippo," I heard. I looked around and there was Kagome looking at me.

"Coming Kagome," I said as I went back and walked by her side. She laid a hand on my shoulder for a moment before letting me walk on my own. _She won't be able to hold me again,_ I realized. Some of the happiness I had felt from Masami-sama saying that I was fine seemed to have had some of the joy taken out of it now.

I walked with them at a slower place as it all sunk in. I never really thought about how somethings would change when I got bigger. I didn't even really think that I would get bigger. I've been so small for so long. I remember once or twice telling Inuyasha what would happen to him when I got bigger, but I never meant any of it.

The murmuring and chatter from the people around us had my ears twitching and soon I couldn't think about being sad over the fact that I wouldn't be able to ride on Kagome's shoulder again even if I hadn't done it in a while.

"She's quite pretty," one lady said.

"No she isn't. My Ming is much prettier," another lady said.

"You think your daughter is the prettiest girl for ten miles around," the first lady said.

"I heard she was a sorceress," one man said to someone else.

"Not a sorceress, a priestess," an older woman said next to him.

"She's a sorceress," the man said again.

"No a priestess," the woman said again.

"Not bad looking for a half demon," a woman then said.

"How do you know she's a half demon?" a young man asked her.

"My sister works in the lord's home. She told me that they hated each other for years and now they are going to be mated," the woman told him.

"How long have they known each other," a man asked.

"Over fifty years I think. She said that they didn't talk for fifty years because of a fight they had," the woman said.

"Over fifty years? That young girl?" a man asked.

"I told you she was a half demon," the girl from before said.

"hahaha," I laughed slightly at hearing this. Kagome over fifty years old? Kagome a half demon? "Haahhhaa," I laughed a bit louder.

"Shippo," I heard Kagome calling me again and I stopped laughing to find out that I had stopped walking and was now behind of them. I felt happy again as I ran to catch up.

**- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -**

"Mummm. I want our first cub to be a girl," Kouga tells me as he continues to lick his way down my neck.

"Why a girl?" I asked him as I held on to his shoulders as he continued to pull my clothes off of me.

"I like your eyes," he said before I felt his lips on my left breast.

"Oohh," I said as I cradled his head closer. He let the rest of his body fall down onto mine that was already laying on the floor. "Mumm," I moaned as I melted into the floor and tried to take him with me.

_I guess we could start making a baby now and by the time we got married I wouldn't have had it yet. But when were we going to get married again?_ I started to loose my ability to think as I felt myself get wetter where he was pressing down into me. I pushed back as I closed my eyes. There were somethings still between us. I pulled at them as he pulled at them and we rolled over a few times until we were happily naked against each other and he was over me again.

I reached up for his pony tail and pulled him down for a very welcoming kiss. Our tongues met and pushed against each other as our lips held on. I arched up into him as my arms moved down his body. He pressed his body down onto mine as I felt his hands moving my legs further apart.

I heard Kouga's loud panting as he broke the kiss and placed his face next to mine. His tongue licked my ear and I moaned before pulling him closer and I locking my legs around him. He didn't enter me but slid his member over and along my opening. Up and down, over and over and over my fleshy pearl. _Again and again and again..._

"Yes, yes, yes," I heard myself saying with each rock of his hips. He pulled back and I knew I was so close to coming. When he didn't rock back into me I pulled at him, but he didn't move. I pulled again not caring why he stopped, I just needed him to continue.

"AAAHHhh...," I screamed out into the room as I dug my fingers onto his arms. He started to lick my collar bone as he continued to push himself all the way into me.

"Oohhh Kouga," I whispered as I basked in the feeling and tried to stop myself from coming at the same time.

"Yes, my mate," he whispered into my ear. _Wow..._I felt my body start to shake as explosions went off through out my body and my brain. As my toes started to curl Kouga moved, and he moved fast and he moved hard.

"Ah, Ah, Ahh, AAHh," my body was turning itself inside out and outside in again as I continued to come. I tried to keep my legs around him, but only the one that I had above his ass was able to stay in place thanks to the base of his tail.

"My Sango. My woman," I heard him say as his fingers dung deeper into my hips and legs. He hit me hard with his last trust and pushed deeper with each jolt as he came inside of me.

We relaxed almost at the same time when we were no longer strung tight by the sensations that had taken over our bodies. I felt his breath on my chest before I heard his breathing. I had to concentrate hard to get my arms to even want to move before they moved to his hair and shoulders.

"I never knew calling you 'mate' would cause that to happen. I'll have to be careful about what I say around you in public," he said with a laugh behind his words.

"I don't know why or how that happened," I told him. It seemed talking was far easier than moving a body part. "It just happened," I said as I kinda tried to defend myself. "Besides," I added. "You have called me 'mate' before and that never happened."

"So what changed this time?" he asked before I felt his lips as they were pressed gently to my skin.

"I think the whole thing was different," I told him. I flexed my insides and Kouga groaned into my chest.

"We did this before," Kouga told me after a long moment. "A year ago I think."

"It was longer than a year ago," I corrected him. "We had made camp a mile away from Kagome and the others because you were worried about Inuyasha walking into our camp, along with Shippo and Kagome. Yet, you weren't worried about Miroku."

"If you remembered when we first did it like this, why did you say it was different a moment ago?" he asked as he raised his head off of my chest for a brief moment.

"It is different from how we do it on most occasions," I answered him. He reaches up and presses his closed lips to mine before pulling himself off and out of me by kneeling before he stood up. I felt hollow as I now laid there at his feet. I looked up at Kouga as he stood above me looking like a god in his own world. He extended a hand and I couldn't bring myself to raise my own.

"Why didn't you mind if Miroku came into our camp?" I asked him as he bent to pick me up. I tried to put an arm around his shoulder but I just couldn't and just laid my head against his shoulder. I expected him to take me to the bed but we walked past it and into the bath.

"For some reason I didn't mind. I don't think he would have interrupted if were we making love and I didn't care if he saw us if he wanted to watch. In fact he would understand that you were now mine if he had any thoughts of getting you back. As for the others," he continued as he walked us into the water. "Inuyasha was a brat that I just didn't want around, Shippo is just a cub and Kagome," he paused as he now stood waist deep in the water.

I pushed myself out of his hold and stood in front of him. I reached up and kissed him before pulling on his hands to have him sit next to me. I leaned against him again and just waited to see if he would continue even though he didn't really need to. I could guess why he didn't want Kagome to see us together.

A few more moments had passed and all he had done was put his arm around me. Reluctantly I pushed away and moved to get some soap from the side where they were all lined up in different colors. I picked the red one that had big salt crystals in it and brought it back to where I was sitting with Kouga. I took a handful and left the bottle behind as I stood again and started to wash.

I felt his soapy hands on my back as he moved them in circles down from my neck.

"I love you," he said. I stopped and turned around to look at him.

"Why do you sound like you are apologizing for something?" I asked him.

"I have to," he said. "I'm not sure how you took it when I didn't say anything about Kagome. You might have thought something that you shouldn't have because I was quite for so long." He looked at me with those soft eyes of his.

"Baka," I told him as I turned back around and continued to scrub. I walked a little further away so I could wash my thighs. When I turned to sit on the top of the tub to do my feet I looked back at him. "I know you love me. I know that you don't love Kagome. I wouldn't have thought that that was why you stayed quite. Kagome is Kagome. At times she has be to be treated a little bit different then the others for odd reasons." I stood and walked over to him. I had finished my other foot while I was talking. "You don't need to say anything at all." I reached up and held his face in my hands. "I love you too. Now finish washing my back," I said as I turned my back towards him. After a moment I felt one hand on my back then another.

Kouga started at my neck then moved over my shoulder. His hands slowly went down my back until he got to my waist. He slid them forward and pulled me backwards to have me press against him.

"I really do love you," he said again. I smiled as I raised a hand and laid it over one of his.

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**Baka –** idiot, stupid.


	75. Chapter 75

Chapter 75

I felt the air moving through my hair as I hurried downstairs for my meeting with Sesshomaru and Sango to talk about our mating ceremonies. I hoped that I wasn't too late. After my combat lesson Miroku told me about his idea of having it on on my birthday and then I got kinda got distracted. I let a smile take over my face as I remembered leaving him looking very distracted.

That was one of the fastest baths that I had ever had, that didn't involve a cold stream. I stopped as I came to the door of the room we were suppose to meet in and fixed the collar of my robe. Miroku had grabbed it when I had bent down to kiss him good bye and he was a bit reluctant to let me go.

I walked into the room with out knocking, not thinking that I needed to, since I was expected. Sango was already there and drinking some tea. Sesshomaru turned to look at me from his seat across from her.

"Am I late?" I asked as I took a seat next to him.

"No," he said. I turned to look at Sango and she smiled at me. I smiled back before I heard a scroll being unrolled. I looked to my side and saw Sesshomaru as he reached the end of the scroll and looked up at us to see if he had our attention before turning back to it.

"For every mating member of the Inu clan a gift has to be exchanged between both parties, within the presence of family and no more than a week apart. The mating ceremony itself doesn't officially start until three days later," Sesshomaru said.

"I know that already. I talked to Masami-sama remember?" I asked him. He turned to look at me.

"Does this mean that you already have your gift?" he asked with some interest.

"I do," I replied.

"And your monk?" he then asked.

"I don't know," I said. "Should I ask him if he already has one?" I asked. I told Miroku that we needed gifts before our actual ceremony, but I didn't ask if he had one for me and I didn't tell him that I already had his. Sesshomaru thought about this for a while.

"Yes and no," he said. I continued to look at him. "Let him know that your mating ceremony will proceed when he presents you with his gift and," he turned his attention to another scroll before talking again. "That it would be ideal if he can do this between one and two moon cycles from now." he ended as he looked up. I looked at him as I took everything that he said in.

"How long after our ceremony will we start looking for jewel shards again?" I asked him. He looked a little, something. I wasn't sure what, but his look did change before it went back to being as blank as before.

"You will have the standard moon time afterwards before we start our quest for the last jewel shards," he said. "Is this acceptable for you?" he asked after a moment. I felt like I should be somewhat upset over it, but then I didn't know what I should be upset about.

"Only if I don't have to spend it here with you," I came up with. It would be nice to have some time away from everyone for a while before we were stuck with them else again for who knows how long. Sesshomaru looked at me. This time I didn't see anything change on his face.

"Do you have somewhere in mind?" he asked when I was going to tell him that we didn't have to leave if we couldn't. I blinked a few times when I heard the question. Now it was my turn to think, but I didn't have to think for long.

"I wanted to take him with me to look for a new site," I told him. We didn't mind being on the road, we just wanted to be alone. And with Maroku being a half demon like myself, we would be able to take care of ourselves, not that Maroku was a slouch before when it came to combat and we could cover a large area looking for a good place for our future home site together. I blinked again when I knew I saw a small smile slip on and off his face just a quickly. He turned to look at Sango as he now gave her his full attention.

"Will this timing be acceptable to you?" Sesshomaru asked her. I now turn to look at her also. It should be an ok time for her, she said two or so months at lunch time.

"Wait," I said stopping Sango from saying anything. "I just remembered something." I blushed slightly at already forgetting such a thing. I stuck my hands in my sleeves and looked at both of them before they could say anything. "We already have a true date for our mating." I said. "It's my birthday. Seventeen days from now." I said. I looked at them, defying them to make me feel bad for so not saying so sooner. Sango looked between me and Sesshomaru. Sesshomaru looked less happy. Not that it was common to see him happy, but his look was a bit darker than it was a few moments ago. He turned back to the calender and looked at something before turning back to look at me.

"You have been misinformed," he simply stated. My eyebrows came together as I looked at him. _What part did he think I was misinformed about? I know when my birthday is. _"The day that marks your birth isn't for three more moons and two weeks," he told me.

"What?" I asked in a voice that I know was loud. I didn't need to see him cock an eyebrow at me to know that. "What do you mean? My birthday isn't that far away," I told him with conviction.

"You were born on the day that our father died from injuries he received in his battle with Ryuukossei. It is a day that I have not forgotten." His voice seemed to have some of the old hatred that he had for me over taking father from him. I now crossed my arms as I looked away from him. _It wasn't my fault._

"Do you still wish to get mated on the day you chose?" Sesshomaru asked me sounding a bit more like the person I've been getting along with for the past six or so moons. I looked back at him and he seemed to have moved past that piece of unpleasant memory. I thought about it as I relaxed my posture.

"Even if it isn't really my birthday, it's still a convent time for all of us isn't it?" I asked him. He turned to look at Sango and I did the same. She looked between the both of us for a moment.

"It is," she said. "It's a bit sooner than I expected, but with the moon long honeymoon afterwards and then six moons after that, I would be back in time for my own mating ceremony," she hesitated. "I will be going back with Kouga tomorrow and I will return on the day I receive word of your mating," she said as she turned towards me.

"Will you be staying until after breakfast tomorrow?" Sesshomaru asked her. I didn't understand why, but I continued to look at her and waited for her to answer.

"I didn't think not to," she said looking a bit puzzled by the question.

"Kagome would like to spend some time with you," he said. I looked at him as he continued to look at Sango. At one point he looked like he wanted to say more but stopped himself before he had opened his mouth. Then he looked like he wasn't there. At all. He was very still, even for him. I turned to look at Sango and she looked at me before we both looked back at him.

"Do you think they are having a friendly conversation?" Sango asked me in a whisper as we continued to look at him.

"Well he doesn't seem upset, so I guess so," I told her with a shrug. I then turned towards her after looking at Sesshomaru for a moment longer. "So why are you going back with the wolf so quickly? You just got here?" I asked her with a voice that I made sure was no higher than the whisper that she used a moment ago. She looked at me like she didn't really want to answer my question.

"It's not something yucky between you two is it?" I asked as I made a slight face. I saw the light in her eye like she use to have when she was about to hit Miroku, but it soon died away and she adjusted and squared her shoulders and looked away before she looked at me again.

"I am going to be Kouga's mate and help him rule our clan. I have to spend as much time with them as I can so that when I get back from hunting shards they would still accept me as a co-leader and not just Kouga's mate," she said and stated at the same time. It sounded like she had thought about this even though it looked like she just came up with it. Her expression changed a bit, like it softened, as she thought of something. "How are you doing?" she then asked me.

"Doing with what?" I asked her truly unsure of what she was asking me about.

"With helping to run the Western Lands?" she asked me. I shrugged my shoulders.

"I haven't had much to do," I told her honestly.

"So what is this talk about you looking for a new site? A new site for what?" she asked me as she leaned in a bit closer.

"When our home and the village we protect are threatened by something, we re-locate to a safer, an ideal area within our lands," Sesshomaru answered her.

"Within our lands?" I asked him feeling slightly dismayed and relieved at the same time. Dismayed because I had been looking anywhere when I did look and not just within our western lands. Relieved that I hadn't found somewhere that I thought was good enough to be told that it wasn't within our borders.

"Yes, within our lands," he said with a very solid look. He held my eyes a moment longer before he turned his attention back to Sango.

"Kagome wishes to speak with you," he told her. I looked at her knowing that she had mostly been dismissed as he also turned to the things he had on the table and started to pack them away. She didn't like it and since she wasn't here that often she hadn't gotten use to him yet and she may never get use to it if she continued to go back to 'her' clan when ever she could. She stood looking at him before she turned to look at me.

"I'll see you later," I told her feeling bad for how she felt. She turned and nodded at me before she turned and walked towards the door.

"Your manners need work," I told him once the door was closed and Sango was gone.

"Manners?" he asked as he raised his head and looked at me.

"Yes, manners. You are still too stuck up to my friends," I told him. This was one fight I wouldn't back down from. He looked at me, then his eyes went distant again before he closed them.

"I'll try," he said with his eyes closed. "I'll try," he said again once he opened them was looking at me.


	76. Chapter 76

Chapter 76

"You have been spending a lot of your time in bed," I told him. Not that I was going to kick him out anytime soon, but it was a change to what we had been doing and I thought it was worth noting. If this was because of something I had said or done, I would like to know what it was so I could do it again when I missed having him this close. I smiled and laid my head on his chest as he laid his warm hand on my cheek and smoothed his thumb over my skin.

"I am trying to make amends and I missed you," he said before he lifted my face with his fingers and kissed me. I slid my smaller frame up along his until our lips met and I pressed down as I kissed him back. My breasts flattened against his chest and his other hand tightened against my waist. I felt his control as it flashed through my mind. I eased up and pulled back before looking down into his golden eyes that he was keeping from getting any darker.

_Amends for what? _I asked him. I liked talking to him this way and it was very convenient for when we weren't in the same room, but habit causes me to talk out loud at times.

_Six days ago you were displeased with me for how I spoke or didn't speak to the former demon slayer, _he answered me.

_Oh that. I'm over it. You said that you were going to try and you did._ I bent down and kissed him on his cheek before I moved back to laying my head on some part of his warm body, naked body.

_Didn't I make it clear that I was trying not to attack you again in your ningen form?_ His question moved through my mind as I started to think of his other warm parts.

_Well kinda. I didn't hear you say no._ I wondered if he could see or feel me smiling at him at the end of that thought. I hugged him slightly. _Don't worry, I'll behave. _After a moment my first question came back to my mind. _How come you are here in bed this late with me today? Don't you have anything that needs to be done? _I repeatedly moved my hand over his that was now laying on his stomach as I waited for him to form an answer.

_I gave half of my duties to Inuyasha for the day, _he said.

_Inuyasha? _I asked back in surprise.

_Yes. He is my brother and my father's child. He is a lord and has to learn how certain things are done. Besides, he isn't alone. He has his monk with him. I apologize. Miroku. I also requested that Katsu-teichou accompany him. He was one of my teachers when I was learning to hold the land together after my father died. He will do well with Inuyasha._

_Is Katsu-teichou mated? _I felt his questioning silence. _Inuyasha likes Katsu-teichou as a person, but he doesn't like him looking at Miroku, _I told him so he would understand why I was asking.

_Inuyasha has nothing to fear. Katsu-teichou has never showed a liking for ningens in such a way. As far as I know he has had male mates, but they were under his command and have died. Currently he is mated to a female and has two sons that he is proud of. _I heard what he said, but I had felt something behind the words that made me think Katsu might have chosen his current mate because he wouldn't have to see her die in battle also.

_He is happy with her, _Sesshomaru told me. I'm sure he felt my sadness for his teichou.

_How long have they been mated? _I asked him to move onto a topic that was less depressing. I shouldn't be depressed at this moment.

_Over two hundred years I believe. His first son is one hundred and sixty one and his second son is just a little younger than Inuyasha. Seventy three I believe._

_Can demons have children forever? Even the women?_ I asked in surprise. As I thought about it, it would make sense if they did.

_Not for forever, but we are capable of having children for hundreds of years. Both males and females. I heard stories of a mated fox demon pair that had a cub every one hundred years, give or take a decade. The last time they were counted, they had fifteen and the newest was just twenty seven years old._

_That's one way to get your own clan. _I thought to myself. I felt a silent laugh as it moved though his body at my funny remark.

_Have you thought about how many cubs you would like to have? _he asked me.

_No, _I answered him honestly without thinking either way. _I know we would have, but I have never though of a number._ I added on so he wouldn't think that I wouldn't have his children.

_It was just a question. It is too early for such decisions, _he paused. _Is there anything you would like to ask me? _he asked as I felt his hand moving under the sheet and over my back. My hand drifted off of his and unto his stomach where I moved it up and down as I pressed in closer to him. As I did my thighs flexed and I felt the soreness from before and stopped myself from thinking back to what we were doing when I felt his skin get warmer. I heard as his half form thoughts were erased before I thought of them too. I bit my lip and thought of something else and possibly of a question that I really had for him.

_A ring, _I said. A very strong image of a ring in a place that I would not have thought of burned through my mind before it was removed rather than letting it fade like all the other thoughts I got Sesshomaru.

"What was that?" I asked out loud as I pushed up and away from him to look into his face. I made myself not look lower on his body to make sure that I didn't see that from before.

_You were the one that said 'Ring' when thinking such things and I haven't worn one of those in decades, _he told me.

_If it has been decades, then why did you think of it? _I asked him as a very small thought made me wonder how much I didn't know.

_You said 'Ring' when you were thinking such things, _he told me again._ As for why I remembered it, I have a long memory. Anyone that lives for over a thousand years should have a good memory. _He looked at me as I took in what he was saying, before I turned way. _I take it that isn't the 'Ring' you were thinking of? _I snapped my eyes up to look at his face again and I saw him smiling at me.

"No it wasn't," I said in my shocked defense. _I don't even know what that was. _I once again stopped myself from looking to make sure it wasn't on him.

_What kind of ring were you thinking of?_ he asked me.

_An engagement ring. _Now he looked puzzled. _It's something like a promise ring. Humans males give them to girls that they want to marry so others know that she is spoken for until she does get married, then she gets a different ring to show that she is married, _I explained.

_Does the male not wear a ring also? _he asked seriously, but I just saw the image from before and tried to bush it aside as I started to answer.

_They both give and receive a gold ring when they get married, but he doesn't wear a promise ring before that. _I watched as his fingers found the small bite marks that I left just below his collar bone from when we marked each other back at the hut.

_I like this better, _he said more to himself than me. _I can't loose it until you are gone from me, _he said as his eyes sparkled with one of his newly revealed emotions. _But you wish for one of these...promise rings? _he asked me. I nodded.

_For when I'm home. They won't know what the bite is and I kinda told my friends that you were getting me one. Not that you have to get me one, I can come up with something to tell them, but I would have liked it to remind me of you. I can't just touch your bite mark when I'm in my world, _I said in defense of my wish.

_What does this promise ring look like? _he asked me. A few images quickly went through my mind with a few of them being the same diamond ring that I had looked at each time I was home since Sesshomaru asked me to mate with him. And since I had told him promise ring, I also saw this vague image of a ring with hands holding a heart around the band of a gold ring.

_A real engagement ring has one diamond mounted on it and a promise ring has hands and heart shapes on it. But you can get me any nice little ring, I just want it to come from you, _I told him as I started to lean down. I kissed him and continued to kiss him.

_No, _He said.

_Yes. _I said as I moved my leg to his other side and straddled him low on his waist. Now words started to fail him as he pushed me lower until I covered him as he hardened and pressed up along me.

"Aahh..." I started to moan as the feeling of his mental pleasure mixed with mine as I became wet and started to rock back and forth over him.

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__**Teichou** - Captain


	77. Chapter 77

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Chapter 77

I stood behind of the three of them as they talked to another shop keeper. He was reciting anything he could remember about men with the names Ashikaga Takauji and Nitta Yoshisada, which didn't appear to be much.

I watched the scribe as he scribbled quickly to keep up with the wondering story of the aged merchant. I was rather proud of Inuyasha. He hadn't broken into the old man's story again for the past five minutes, even though he had once again strayed from the questions that Katsu had asking him.

The young scribe would look up at Inuyasha with a nervous expression when he noticed his leg shaking from his lack of patience with the old merchant and then the merchant would look over at Inuyasha also and would stutter back to what he was suppose to be saying. Finally the old man brought his story to an end and Inuyasha turned off in search of another merchant to get his task over with. I turned and followed him as I heard Katsu thanking the man for his time.

I listened for Inuyasha's voice, when I lost sight of him, and followed it until I found him at a large fabric stall threatening its owner. When I got closer, he stopped and waited in silence for Katsu and the scribe to catch up to us. I walked over to him and leaned my head next to his.

"I'll meet you by the well outside of town," I told before I started to pull away.

"Where are you going?" he asked as he grabbed my arm to keep me from leaving.

"I have to talk to the villagers also," I told him with a smile. I wanted to touch him in a far more friendly manner before leaving, but I didn't know how anyone else would react to it, so I just waited for his response.

"Fine. I'll see you at the well then," he said with a sharp nod. I saw the merchant looking at us so I bowed slightly at Inuyasha before leaving the stall. I went back the way we came and started almost at the same place that Inuyasha and Katsu had this morning. But I didn't talk to the merchants. I talked to to their families and their neighbors.

I introduced myself as a friend of Lord Inuyasha. Most of them had seen me with with him so they were more than happy to talk with me and answer my questions. By the fourth household I was starting to think that I should have asked for my own scribe since I hadn't didn't bring anything to write down what they were telling me.

When I got to the sixth house I had leaned to make to mental lists. One that was a must and one that was a wish. I concentrated on the must have list more than the wish, but once in a while I would remember most of it and add something to it. It was mostly for children, but a few adults had a few things that they would have liked also. I agreed with some of them myself, but it still went on the wish list.

I had started this task with enthusiasm, but as the visits continued, I started to think of being with Inuyasha again. When the same wishes were repeated by my interviewees I would see him sitting cross legged at the well waiting for me.

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"Maroku-sama," a young girl that was knelling in front of me said. I looked at her a bit more intently and smiled to hide my surprise that I didn't notice when she came back into the room.

"Yes, pretty one," I said with a smile. I had heard too many names today to remember her's at the moment. I said it with my sweetest voice so she wouldn't take offense. I watched as she blushed before she pushed a wrapped box towards me.

"Okāsan would like you to have to some of our dinner since you speared some time to visit this lowly household today," she said with a bow. I couldn't help but smile. I don't think that her mother would have said anything against giving me something to eat before I left, but I'm sure that the idea was all her's.

"Every household is important," I told her as I reached out and patted her hand before picking up the box. "Thank you for the food and please pass on my thanks to your okāsan," I told her before starting to stand. She stood when I did and walked me out of the house. We bowed at the front door and I looked up to see that the sun was setting and that I had covered a good mix of the village. I was willing to say that my day was done until I had to write down the lists when I got back home.

_Home, _I mused to myself as I walked down the road towards the well.

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_Inuyasha,_ I said to myself as I saw him as I had been seeing him in my head for most of the afternoon. I started to walk a bit faster. Despite my need to be closer to him I ended up walking beyond him and choosing a spot that looked like it was well used to sit and opened the meal that we had been graced with.

As I untied the last knot I felt him sitting behind of me and soon his red clad legs appeared on either side of mine and I felt him lay his head on my shoulder.

"What's that?" Inuyasha asked as leaned closer for a better look even though I hadn't taken off the lid yet.

"An okāsan seemed rather impressed with me and had her lovely daughter present me with some of their evening meal before I left," I half bragged as I lifted the lid. I felt his arms tighten around my waist.

"You didn't say anything to give them the idea that you were," he paused to search for a good word. "Free?" he came up with.

"I did no such thing. I was nothing but professional as I asked them general questions about the village and if there was anything that they would change if they could. Nothing more and nothing less," I said as I looked over what was packed. _It pays off to live next to the fishmonger._ I saw some squid among the rice. I separated the two layers that I was given and saw that it was a repeat of the top box.

"My lord," I mocking said as I raised one of the boxes for Inuyasha. There was a moment as he growled at me before he took it and placed the box back with the other one. I turned around a bit more to fully face him and saw his face as it descended unto mine.

"Don't say that when you are alone with me," he told me for the short moment he broke our kiss before he kissed me again and held me tighter. When Inuyasha pulled away again I looked up into his red tinted, golden eyes and smiled. "Bring the food," he said before he fully pulled away and stood over me as he waited for me to get up.

I retied the food and grabbed my staff before Inuyasha started walking away from the village. He didn't walk too briskly, which allowed me the time to watch the sun set and feel the breeze as it passed us. We walked into the tree line and continued walking towards the setting sun. When we could see the sun through the trees again he found an old stump that was pressed up against another tree that looked to be over twenty years old. He stood while I sat. This time he sat with his back to mine. I handed him his box without saying anything and we ate quietly among the trees and the dying light. After we finished eating and the woods were much darker I pushed against Inuyasha's back causing him to lean forward.

"What is it?" I asked him now that I realized he was being rather quite.

"Nothing," he told me. "I just have to remind you of something," he added.

"Such as?" I asked him as I watched the sun disappear.

"Our exchange of gifts," he said simply. "I'm going to let you go first," he enlightened me.

"Really?" I questioned. "Why do I get such an honor?"

"Because I already have my gift for you," he informed me.

"I should hurry up then?" I asked with a small measure of humor.

"You should before Sango gets upset with you," he said with a slight laugh.

"Sango?" I asked puzzled.

"She's timing a few things off of when we get mated," Inuyasha said.

"Such as?" I inquired.

"How much time she can spend with her new clan and Kouga, the flee bag," he said under his breath. "And how long she would be able to hunt for jewel shards with us before stopping for her mating ceremony," he ended.

"Is she having the changing ceremony?" I asked him.

"She didn't say," Inuyasha told me before he moved away. I still felt his heat on my skin when I felt his presence again. I felt his lips on my neck as he kissed me there. His hands moved around my body and into the front of my kimono, pulling it from me in the process.

"Ah," I moaned when his fangs grazed my shoulder while his nails moved down my chest. I laid my hands on the ground as he ignited a flame in me that was always smoldering for him. "Inuyasha," I whispered lowly when he licked my neck. His hand made its way under my kesa while his other one stayed occupied with my chest by sending little shocks though my now very hard nipples.

His hand that had moved up my thigh had no problem in finding my cock. I moaned louder as I fell backwards into Inuyasha's new embrace when he pulled and pushed at my sex. I was soon laid across his lap as we kissed and he moved his hand over my hard flesh. I wrapped my arms around him as he pulled me closer to coming.

His mouth feasted on mine and I tried to return the favor, but I caught myself moaning every time I was given a moment to catch my breath.

"Inuyasha," I cried out as I felt myself bowing up into his hand.

"I want a good gift," he whispered into my ear before the heat of his mouth consumed and sucked me in. I came in his mouth with a growl that I would have thought was his if I didn't feel it moving up my throat and out past my lips.

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**Okāsan - **Mother. It's really how you say mother when they aren't your own, but it seems to be common to call your own mother that once in a while.

**Kesa -** Miroku's purple monk's wrap.


	78. Chapter 78

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Chapter 78

_Do you really need to know all of that? _Sesshomaru asked me.

_Not this bit, but some of it will come in handy later, _I answered him as I turned the page.

_What is this called again? _he asked without looking in my direction.

_Modern History Of Our World. We were only given the chapters on Japan, China, North and South Korea to read for my class on Modern Japan, _I told him with a smile that I didn't turn to show him. I didn't want to read anymore. I pushed the book away and rubbed my eyes. It was my own fault for looking at what happened in Africa. I could read it later, like a hundred years from now and I'll still get the scoop on the country.

_Come here, _Sesshomaru told me. I moved closer to him and laid my head on his shoulder. In another moment I felt his tail as it wrapped it's way around me. I stayed like that humming in my head as I slowly cleared it of stuff I didn't want to think about.

_So what are you doing,_ I asked him as I finally opened my eyes and looked down at his set of papers.

_I'm going over our stores to make sure we are ready for my brother, _he answered.

_Inuyasha? _I asked him.

_Yes, they are due to start their mating ceremony any day now, _he explained.

_Oh, _I answered him. _Should I get a new kimono?_ I asked him.

_If you wish, _Sesshomaru answered me. _I'll send a message to the tailor to come by after our noon meal. You can tell him what fabrics you want and he can remeasure Shippo. I know the k__itsune__ is in need of something that can fit him again. _He commented. I didn't say anything as I remembered seeing Shippo this morning. Another growth spurt had him just under my chin now.

_A weed,_ I commented to myself. I felt his puzzlement over those words. _In the west, when a child grows quickly, they say that they grow like weeds, _I clarified for him.

_Like bamboo, _he said. _For the height, _he clarified.

_That too,_ I agreed. _I want to go walking in the garden,_ I said as I looked back at my books. I was too tired of them right now.

_Would you like my company? _he asked me.

_If you wish, _I told him as I smiled up at his face. I leaned up and kissed his cheek as I saw his mind working before he turned to look at me. I continued to watch his mental images as he brought them under control along with his stroked desire. I considered it funny the effect that I was having on him. Mother said that she noticed a change in me too lately. Something about me being calmer about things.

_It's good that I'm having such an effect on you, _Sesshomaru said before he bent his head and kissed me.

_Mmumm... you have always had an effect on me, _I told him as I started to kiss him back.

_Sesshomaru,_ I heard in his head before he quickly pulled away from me.

_Haha-ue?_ He questions this new voice.

_Haha-ue? _I also ask in puzzlement.

_She can hear me also? _The new feminine sounding thoughts asked. _I will be there in time for the evening meal, _ she told us both before leaving our minds.

If I wasn't looking at Sesshomaru before, I was looking at him now as my mind recognized his golden eyes as they looked back at me.

_Why would she return now?_ he asked himself. I tired to think of a reason to tell him, but as I went through each idea, I'm sure he heard each one until I pointed out the one I liked the best.

"Maybe she heard that you were going to be mated and came to meet me," I told him out loud. As soon as the words left my lips I went cold. _Sesshomaru's mother is coming to see me. _I watched as he reached his hand out and held the back of my head as he pulled me forward to rest on his chest. I felt his lips on my forehead for a brief moment.

_I will protect you, _was all he told me. I closed my eyes and hoped that the fear and puzzlement that I was feeling rolling around in his mind was misguided.

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I had gained better control over my surprise and slight fear at the news that my haha-ue was on her way and would be here by the end of day. I rubbed my thumb over Kagome's hand as she now held mine again as we waited for all the dishes to be cleared. I had unnerved her earlier when I hadn't raised my mental shield fast enough to keep her from hearing my last thought on the matter.

"What's wrong?" Inuyasha asked as he looked at me before looking at Kagome next, as soon as the last servant left the room. I'm sure she looked better than she did when we heard my haha-ue's thoughts in our minds through my link, but I felt her mood deteriorate again since the meal had started.

"We will be having an unforeseen visitor for at our evening meal tonight," I told them. I debated with myself as to whether or not I should have spoken about picking materials for new garments for Inuyasha's mating ceremony, but it may end up being the news to end this talk on a lighter note.

"Who?" Inuyasha asked me.

"My haha-ue," I told the room.

"Obaa-san," I heard Rin murmur to herself on the other side of Kagome.

_Why do you feel sorry for Rin? _Kagome asked me.

_Later, _I told her.

"Why is your mother coming here?" Inuyasha continued.

"I do not know," I told him simply with jarring honestly.

"She's your okāsan, how can you not know?" he pressed.

"I haven't seen her since before you were born Inuyasha and before then we did not spend much time together," I leveled at him.

"If I may ask," his monk started. "Do you know if she will be here for our mating ceremony?" Inuyasha looked at him before turning to look back at me. He wisely chose not to voice the question again.

"I do not know. Maybe that is why she chose to come here at this time," I told them all. I felt some of Kagome's anxiety slip away as this new thought made its way through her mind.

"Fine. I get that you didn't get along with her all that well, but I'm not her son, she doesn't have a reason to come and see me get mated," Inuyasha pointed out. I felt Kagome's mode darken again.

_Maybe you should go and meet with the tailor now, _I suggested to her in an attempt to keep her from worrying even more over something that we weren't sure about.

_I'm going to stay, _she told me as I turned to look at her. Her head was down and she was shaking her head very slightly. I wanted to reach out for her like I did this afternoon, but this wasn't the time.

"She hated my okāsan, she has no reason to come to my mating ceremony," Inuyasha loudly pointed out.

"You are her mate's son," I simply stated. Inuyasha sat back and thought this point over.

"None of us know why she is coming, but I can promise you that she will make it very clear once she is here," I told everyone. "Before she informed me of her impending arrival, I had decided to have the tailor present for a fitting for Shippo and to give us a chance to have something new made for Inuyasha and Miroku's mating," I explained. "He is already in the other room awaiting us. Only Shippo will have his measurements retaken, the rest of us will just pick the style and fabrics that we wish," I finished.

"What do I wear?" Inuyasha asked. Everyone turned to look at him.

"You wear a montsuki. Isn't that right Sesshomaru-sama?" Rin asked me as she now looked around Kagome.

"If he wants to," I told her.

"What is that suppose to mean?" Inuyasha asked as I saw Miroku open his mouth to say something.

"It means that you can wear a montsuki or a uchikake if you like, but it has to be white with something purple embroidered on it. Under that there should be something almost completely red for the turning part of the ceremony. If you wish to have one that is," I added.

"Are all male mating ceremonies so lax in what is worn?" Miroku asked.

"Unless one shows himself to be more assertive than the other, they can both wear a montsuki or a uchikake," I told them before turning to look at Inuyasha. _I'm positive that Inuyasha will wear a Montsuki, _I commented to myself.

_I'm sure too, _Kagome said in agreement with me. Well I thought I commented to myself. I squeezed her hand that was still on my thigh.

"Kisho is in the next room," I said as I stood holding Kagome's hand. I looked at everyone else at that table for a moment before turning and leaving. The little ones walked behind of us as we exited the room first.

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"I don't see a reason to be worried," Miroku said as he laid back in the bed and looked at me as I took off the last of my clothes.

"I'm not that worried," I told him as I now walked around to my side of my bed. "I'm just a bit … unsure," I admitted. "Once or twice I realized that Sesshomaru was upset by his mother showing up and I don't like when Sesshomaru is unsure about something," I told him as I laid down and placed my head on his thigh. I looked at him and saw that he wasn't looking at me. His hand started to move through my hair, but he was looking at a closed window. "What are you thinking?" I asked him. Now he looked at me with those dark blue eyes of his. Even though I saw them clearly, the mostly dark room made them look even darker.

"What would you do if she really did come to see you?" he asked. I was about to ask him why would she come to see me, but I remembered what Sesshomaru said about me being her mate's son. She would have a right to be at my mating ceremony.

"Don't know," I told him as I looked up at the painting of Sesshomaru looking down at the two of us. "I don't know her and if she didn't come for a fight, I don't care if she's here or not," I said.

"I don't think you would have been able to stop her if you wanted to," Miroku said. I turned my attention back to him. "She's far older than Sesshomaru so she has to be very powerful," he explained. "That could be why Sesshomaru was nervous. I don't think he meets many who could beat him in a fair fight," Miroku continued.

"If he had to fight her, I'll be there to help," I told him hoping that it wouldn't come to that. I had gotten very good with the Tetsusaiga, but I knew that I wasn't as good as Sesshomaru had been when he forced himself to use it for those few moments. Sesshomaru is my brother. We do things together now and I won't leave him to fight a battle on his own if I knew he couldn't win it himself.

**# ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ #**

**Haha-ue – **Mother (polite). Every where I read, Sesshomaru has called his father chichi-ue which is the polite way, so I looked for the mother version and I found this.

**Obaasan** – Grandmother.

**Montsuki** – Male wedding kimono.

**Uchikake** – Female wedding kimono.


	79. Chapter 79

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Chapter 79

_Are you sure that you want to be here? _I asked her. I commended her show of bravery, but it won't work against haha-ue as we saw this afternoon.

_It's not just a show, being brave is acting against your fear, _Kagome told me.

_Yes my hatsukoi,_ I commented.

_Is that true? Am I really your hatsukoi? _Kagome asked me.

_Yes. You are the first person I have ever had these feeling for. The only one I have ever wished to be mated to,_ I told her before a scent caught my attention.

_It's a shame __that Ayaka never made such an impression on you. I considered her quite a find, but I heard that you seemed to have found someone that might have matched her, at least in beauty, _I heard my mother say before I saw her traveling party exit the forest four miles away. _It seems that I was misinformed about her heritage it seems. I shall be there shortly, _Haha-uesaid before closing her mind to me once again.

"What happened? Why did you stop talking to me?" Kagome asked out loud.

"My Haha-ue was talking with me," I informed her. It seemed she made sure that she was only talking to me this time. I nodded my head in her direction even though Kagome couldn't see her. "She just came out of the forest and her traveling party will be here by meal time," I told her.

"Did she tell you why she was coming?" Kagome asked.

_Yes, to meet you it seems, _I told her.

_I was right, _Kagome said more to herself than to me. _She won't like me, _I heard her say. _But it doesn't matter, _she came back with as I was about to tell her something. She raised her head and looked at me. _As long as you love me I don't really care, at least at this moment, what your mother thinks of me, _she bravely told me.

_I do love you,_ I told her as I held her hand. I looked back in the direction that my haha-ue was coming from and noted that at the rate she was traveling, it would be at least two hours before she arrived at my gate.

_Come, let us wait for her inside, _I said as I turned Kagome around and walked with her back into our home. I lead her to the stair case and walked with her to our room. We helped each other take off our two outer coats before we sat down, side by side and picked up something to read until my Haha-ue arrived.

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_She looks very young, _I commented as I watched her walk towards us from her litter. If I hadn't known that she was Sesshomaru's mother, I would have said that she wasn't thirty yet.

_She's over one thousand years old, _Sesshomaru informed me before he stepped forward to greet her.

"Haha-ue," he said as he held out one hand for her, palm down. She placed her hand over his and he leaned forward and kissed her hand. It looked like he kissed her hand. _Odd._ When he stood fully erect again as she turned over both their hands and kissed his palm. _Very odd. _They then pulled their hands apart. She held hers together in front of her while Sesshomaru's just hung at his side. They were looking at each other without saying anything.

I thought that something was wrong before I realized that they were talking to each other, but in their heads. I couldn't hear anything which wasn't surprising since I knew that Sesshomaru could close off his mind from mine when he needed or wanted to. I stood still and waited to be introduced if not just acknowledged. That didn't look like it would happen for a few more minutes, so I took the time to look at who came with her. Most of them seemed to be human with normal colored skin and non-pointy ears or anything else that was abnormal like tusks.

There were four older men that carried her litter and one younger one that walked behind it carrying a bag. Behind him were two girls that I assumed helped her do girl things. I think that the last two males, that looked a little young, were demons, but I didn't know what kind. They were the only ones that openly looked at me.

_They are my guards,_ I heard her say to me. I turned and looked at her. I then realized that Sesshomaru was already back at my side. She smiled at me as she waited for me to greet her.

_Do I just bow? _I asked Sesshomaru quickly.

_Yes, _he answered. I bowed lowly in her direction and counted to five before raising my head. She waited almost as long before she tilted her head in my direction for a mere two seconds.

"We will show you to your room Haha-ue," Sesshomaru said before slightly pulling at my hand to have me follow him inside ahead of her.

_What about them? _I asked him as he steered me towards the stair case.

_Amaya will see to them, _he informed me.

"Do you wish to use the room that you occupied before you mated with Chichi-ue?" Sesshomaru asked her as we started to ascend the stair case.

"I will prefer one that doesn't reek of a human that was using it," she stated.

"As you wish Haha-ue," Sesshomaru told her as he held my arm to keep me from turning on her._ Sango does not reek!_ I wanted to tell her, but Sesshomaru heard me instead.

_I know she doesn't, but now is not the time to pick a fight with her. I will talk to her later, _he reassured me.

_Thank you, _ I told him as I calmed myself down and continued to follow Sesshomaru with his mother walking right behind of us. I'm sure she heard everything I told him but choose to say nothing. We walked into and down a hall that I never had a reason to walk before. I might have stumbled down it once when I had first gotten here and got lost looking for a bathroom. I was pulled out of that old memory when Sesshomaru squeezed my hand and stopped us all in front of a door. _I guess this is the one he had the servants clean out for her to use, _I thought as I stood to the side as he opened the door for her to walk in.

I wasn't going to follow her inside in case she said something else that I might not be able to keep to myself from calling her out on, but as Sesshomaru walked behind of her, he placed his arm behind my back and pushed me into the room ahead of him. I'm should use a word like propelled, but I feel like saying pushed since I really didn't want to go into that room with her.

_You have to Kagome. She will be staying with us for at least three weeks if she stays for Inuyasha's mating, _Sesshomaru told me to my horror.

_Then you will be spending part of tonight telling me every good thing that you can think of, of her for me to not hate her for what I know she has done or not done for you and Inuyasha,_ I told him as I watched her walk further into the room and touch a lone snap dragon that sat in a very thin vase.

_As you wish, _Sesshomaru told me before he left my side once again.

"Is everything to your liking Haha-ue?" he asked her.

"I remember this room. I helped to decorate it while you grew in my belly. It took a moon of looking through fabrics that Kisho brought to the house before I had enough right fabrics for the curtains, sheets, and two winter blankets. Are all twenty still here?" she asked as she turned around and faced us.

"I believe so Haha-ue. No one has used this room since you left that I can recall," Sesshomaru honestly told her.

"I will like to have my sheets changed every day and I would like to get ready for dinner now," she said before one of the girls that came with her walked to her side and was handed the heavy wrap that she had over her shoulders.

Sesshomaru bowed and I followed suit and saw her starting to bow the same time I did. I turned and walked out of the room and I soon felt him walking next to me. I felt his hand on the small of my back again as he lead me out of this new hallway.

_She appears a bit more easy going than I remembered her, _Sesshomaru informed me.

_She asked for her sheets to be changed everyday, _I reminded him.

_Come with me, _he said as he held my hand and pulled me into an empty room on our left. I quickly followed behind him until he stopped to close the door behind of us. I stood quietly as I waited for him to say something. _Maybe I shouldn't have said anything about his mother, _I told myself. _She is his mother after all. _I lowered my head at what I thought I had just done.

"You are not wrong," I hear him tell me out loud. I looked up and his eyes were looking kindly down at me.

"I'm sorry," I tell him anyway. "I shouldn't have complained. It's not like I have to wash them," I said with an odd grin.

"No you don't, but this will give my servants more work than they need. I will let them change the bedding every day, but the wash days will stay the same. They will even get an extra day off to make up for the extra day it may take to get all the washing done until she leaves," he tells me as he looks off into a dark corner of the room before turning to look at me again. "You will start to think of them as times goes by," he tells me after reading my thoughts that I hadn't really thought about the servants.

He places both his hands on either side of my face and tips it slightly so he could kiss my forehead. I held his sides with both of my hands before he tips my face even more backwards and kisses my lips.

_I'm sorry,_ I told him before I started to kiss him back. _Is she staying for Inuyasha's mating? _I couldn't stop myself from thinking and asking at the same time. He pulled back and looked directly into my eyes before his eyes started to wander all over my face.

_She came for my, our, mating. But when I told her that we wouldn't be mating for three years, she wasn't very happy. I then told her that she may have thought I, we, were getting mated because Inuyasha was going to be starting his ceremony any day now. _

_So she is going to stay for Inuyasha's mating?_ I asked him wondering why she would stay for someone who wasn't her son.

"She may," he tells me out loud. _She said that since she came so far, she might as well stay. But she will let us know for sure tonight at dinner, _he ended as his lips caught a hold of mine again.

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We all sat in our usual places, except there was an extra place at the table tonight and it was directly on my left. Everyone was on time and had seemed to have dressed with a bit more care than normal. Inuyasha wore his reversal of my favorite personal outfit. The monk didn't look much like one tonight and his hair was pulled back, like my brother and it fell down to his back from where it was tied with a deeply green colored ribbon. While the look made his mate-to-be look more distinguished, having his hair pulled back just made Inuyasha look as young as he really was. _Pup. _

Rin has been over joyed since finding out about my Haha-ue. I didn't have the will to tell her not to be, but I will protect her from anything my Haha-ue may say or do to her. The kitsune sat on her right and for once didn't seem so hungry. Maybe his growth spurts were at an end for now. Between Rin and I sat Kagome. I looked towards and door and everyone followed my gaze.

The door opened and most of us heard if not saw my Haha-ue as she dismissed her servants until the meal was over. Then she made a show of entering the room. She has always liked the attention. At least she managed to close the door on her own before coming in any further. As she approached the table she stopped and looked slightly puzzled before starting to stare down Kagome.

_Haha-ue, your seat is here, _I told her as I raised my left arm to show her where she would be sitting.

_I have never sat on the left in my own house, _she tells me before turning to look at Kagome again.

_This is no longer your house Haha-ue. It hasn't been yours since you left Chichi-ue. This is my house now, and my mate will sit on my right. Not you. Take your seat, _I told her firmly.

"But she's not your mate and she won't be for three more years," she said angrily to the whole room. I saw the questions in everyone's face, but they held their tongues. They knew not to ask me now.

"This is Kagome's place. She has sat there since she arrived at my home and she will sit there until I no longer breath," I told her. "Will you sit and eat, or will you be returning to your room?" I asked her. I now felt immensely grateful that she was under no obligation to stay for Inuyasha's mating. And if she left now, which appeared very likely, then I would inform her that she was not to return for mine.

I saw as her eyes flattened to slits. She must have read what I thought. So be it. I watched her and she seemed to have come to a conclusion. Her eyes were emotionless before she closed them and bowed in my direction. I didn't bow back.

"I'm sorry my Lord," she said.

"Apologize to Kagome," I told her when she started to move forward. I automatically looked to her left arm even though I couldn't see it through her long sleeve. She always had a twitch there when she was told to do something she didn't want to.

"I'm sorry Kagome-sama," she said as she bowed again in her direction. I smelt the blood as she actually bit her own tongue. Kagome did a small bow in return. I didn't expect her to, but I didn't stop her either once she had started. Every one watched her as she made her way to the seat next to me. Once she was stated my servants came in with their practiced routine and laid out the food in front of us.

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**Hatsukoi** - first love, puppy love. I thought about using dear, but since Sesshomaru is a dog demon and Kagome is technically his first love, I thought it was fitting for him to call her that.

**Chichiue** - father, polite form.


	80. Chapter 80

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Chapter 80

"If you do not mind, I'll take my leave now," Sesshomaru's mother said as she started to stand. "I've had a long day and I wish to rest," she gave as her reason for why she wanted to leave the table.

"Of course Haha-ue," Sesshomaru told her. "But what of your answer?" he asked her. _There was a question?_ We all looked at her now.

"I believe that it would be my place to stay," she said before bowing. She waited for Sesshomaru to bow in return before finally leaving the room. The room stayed quite for a bit longer to make sure she was gone before there was a collected sigh of relief around the table.

"What was the question she was answering?" I quickly asked to find out what she was staying yes for.

"About your mating Inuyasha," he answered.

"Why?" I asked him. "I don't need her hanging around to see how I don't do things her way," I told him. He just looked at me until I calmed down. I was almost surprised that I did calm down that quickly.

"She won't," he simply told me.

"Kagome, if I may ask, why are you taking so long to get mated?" Miroku asked her. She turned and looked at Sesshomaru for a moment before looking back at us.

"Well there are a few reasons really," she started looking a little nervous. "I may be seventeen, but no one gets married in my time until you are at least eighteen," she said with a slight laugh.

"And the other reasons?" Miroku asked when she didn't say anything else. I leaned a bit more onto the table as I took in the whole conversation.

"Ahm, I'm still in school. I have to finish school first," she slightly insisted before she looked sideways at Sesshomaru.

"Is school that important?" I asked her. I seem to have asked her that question a lot.

"Yes it is that important," she told me.

"How much longer is this school thing anyway?" I asked.

"Just less than two years if I don't go to college," she said.

"What's a college?" I asked her.

"It's another school," she answered.

"Another school?" I asked loudly. "Why would you go to another school after just finishing one?" I didn't understand. School seemed like it was a pain and she wanted more of it.

"I said if I went to college. I haven't decided yet. If I go, I would be able to get a better job and make more money," she said. _Money. All of this was for money?_

"You don't need to make money," I told her before looking at Sesshomaru. "That's not the real reason," I said to both of them.

"You're right, it isn't," Sesshomaru finally said.

"So what could keep you from getting mated for three years?" Miroku asked himself quietly as he pulled back from the table. He looked thoughtful, but he wasn't going to press it. _I guess he'll just keep it in mind and add things to it now and again that might seem to be part of the puzzle_, I told myself as I looked back at Kagome and my very quiet brother.

"Fine," I said. "Don't tell me," I told them as I sat back and crossed my arms over my chest knowing that Miroku would tell me when he figured it out.

"If that is all," Sesshomaru said as he started to stand.

"Actually," Miroku said as he spoke up to keep Sesshomaru from leaving the table along with everyone else. "I believe that I must present this to Inuyasha in front of you," he said with a smile as he now looked in my direction. He pulled something out of his robe and held it out to me.

I looked down at his outstretched hand that held a small rectangle box that was wrapped in a red piece of cloth. I took it from him before I looked up at him again. He nodded his head in my direction for me to open it and I did. I unwrapped the cloth and saw a light brown colored box that was polished to a high shine.

At first I tried to gently lift the lid so I wouldn't damage it, but I had to pull on it a bit harder because it was such a snug fit. Inside were two things that I recognized if I never saw this kind before. There was the little man on it holding the big pin behind his back. Normally he was yellow with a black big head, but this time all of it was painted on in gray. These looked a bit better than the ones I saw Kagome using all the time. They were thicker and the whole outer case was light gray in color._ I guess he really wants me to start keeping a journal again._

"Thank you," I said as smiled up at him.

"What is it? What is it?" Rin asked from her side of the table. Shippo had already stood and was looking at it over her head.

"I think they're pens," he said sounding like he didn't quite believe it. "Your mating gift is a pen?" he asked Miroku really not believing it. I was torn between kissing Miroku and hitting Shippo.

"Do you like it?" Miroku quickly asked to keep me from turning on Shippo. He mostly looked like he was sure he got me a good gift if not the right one. He wouldn't know how right it was until he got his gift from me.

"What's a pen?" Rin asked someone.

"Yes," I told him. "I like it." I really, really wanted to kiss him now, but I couldn't do that in front of them.

"I'll tell you," I heard Kagome tell someone. I think she was talking to Rin. I then heard as people started to get up. I looked around and saw as Kagome left the room with Rin and Shippo. Sesshomaru stayed behind and continued to look at us. For a brief second I felt really protective over Miroku for some reason, but I pushed that aside since I knew he was bonded to Kagome.

"Congratulations," he said before standing. "Kagome wanted to say the same, but she thought it was wise to get the little ones off to bed first," he explained.

"Thank you," Miroku and I said at the same time. I turned to look at him and he smiled back at me before turning to look at Sesshomaru again.

"Is there anyone that you wish to invite to the ceremony?" he asked Miroku.

"The only one that I can think of right now is Mushin," Miroku told him.

"If you do think of anyone else, let me know along with where they can be found and I'll send someone to fetch them in the morning," he said before nodding slightly in my direction before he turned and left the room.

I watched Miroku as he watched Sesshomaru leave the room. When I heard the door close I jumped him. One hand held the back of his neck and the other was low on his back as I pressed our bodies together while I kissed his breath away. I pulled back when I realized that I had moved too quickly for him.

"Are you ok?" I asked Miroku as he slowed his gulping.

"Yes, you were..." I cut him off as I kissed him again. This time he kissed me back almost right away. I felt his arms as he wrapped them around me. I pushed him a bit here and there until I felt him hit the table that was now behind of him.

"Inuyasha," he said as I started to push him back unto the table.

"Yes?" I asked him as I wondered what on earth he had to tell me now.

"The servants," he said before tilting his head over towards the other set of doors on the other side of the room. We both looked at it as if we expected them to now come out and take the dishes now that we remembered that they were there. I was the first to look back and I kissed his neck to get his attention. When his blue eyes were looking at me again, I kissed him lightly before taking his hand and leading him from the room, but not before I picked up my gift that he just gave me.

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"I'm not sure that I want Mushin at our mating," Inuyasha told me as he held some of my hair between his fingers.

"Why not?" I asked him.

"I don't like him and pretending to be a monk doesn't help things," he told me.

"Would you rather have Hachiemon here instead?" I asked him.

"Yes actually," Inuyasha admitted. "He never lied to us to have us clean a huge temple, wash clothes, cut grass and go in search of sake that had Sango falling all over me," he said with a face that told me he didn't enjoy the memory at all.

"Did you like me from that far back?" I asked him. I had yet to find out when he did start to think of me as more than just a member of his little group. He turned at looked at me for a moment.

"You're smiling at me," he said before he laid his chin on my chest.

"Yes," I admitted with the smile still on my lips. Now I moved my hand through his hair.

"I don't know when I really fell in love with you, if that is what you are asking," he told me as I felt his jaw move with each word. "But every time you happily smiled, without some scheme or woman behind it, I felt...," he paused. "It felt like I was being pulled to you some how," he ended it there as he wrapped his arms around me.

"It was when your demon blood took over and I was trying to protect us from that cocoon of melting poison," I told him.

"Hah?" he asked as he raised his head up and looked into my face.

"That is when I fully realized how much you meant to me. It was like I had an odd panic attack as I thought of really loosing you for some reason. I know it doesn't make any sense, but it happened. I had realized a long time ago that if you weren't with Kagome and possibly could like me, I wouldn't have minded," I told him before I quickly continued and looked else where. "At the time I believed that unless something really, really big happened to get you mad enough with Kagome or she couldn't come back from her time, you two weren't going to part. And if some how that something happened, that wouldn't suddenly make you like me, never mind males in general," I finished as I looked upwards. _For some reason admitting that was worst than telling him about the other people I had been with. Maybe it was because I was wrong. Maybe if I hadn't made myself stop thinking that something could have been between us I would have seen when he started to look at me differently._

"Well you were right there," he said as he laid his head on my chest again. I looked down at him and I saw his golden eyes looking at me. "Something really, really big happened," he continued as he raised his head and brought it closer to mine. "Sango and that flea bag found out that they were good together and I fell for you, despite your bad habits," he told me with a wide grin.

"Yes, that was very big," I agreed as I pushed myself up on my elbows which just happened to cause our lips to met. Not that I wasn't in favor of such an outcome. "Mmm,"I breathed as we parted for a long breath.

"Would you mind putting off coming up with that list for Sesshomaru until the morning?" he asked me as he licked my lower lip.

"Not at all," I told him with my eyes closed. "But why should I?" I playfully asked him.

"Hah, ha," he laughed under my chin. I smiled also as I waited to find out if he was going to answer me or just show me. I felt his lips under my jaw as he kissed me. Then he kissed me again a bit lower and once again. "I want to thank you for my gift," he told me which was a little bit of a surprise. I thought he was just going to show me and save the effort of talking until later when he couldn't stop himself from saying something. I grinned to myself as I started to think of what those words would be.

"You are most welcomed," I found myself saying as I felt him move his body around on our bed and over me. As the words left my mouth I felt his hot breath over my lips before he kissed me backwards onto the pillows. A small part of me wondered happily at the fact that he accepted my gift and that he was on his way to being my mate. My mind paused as my body shook slightly as lust quickly moved through me for him.

"Ahaaa," I cried out lightly as Inuyasha bit into my lips with the points of his teeth before slowly licking over them. I became dead weight in his arms as I remembered when he use to bite me and was rougher with me as we made love. I had thought that he stopped because we couldn't explain some of it away anymore on the previous day's battle. "More," I moaned as my hands moved from my sides to his and the back of his neck. I felt his lips curl into a smile just over my skin and I started to shake again with anticipation.

"Sure," he answered before I felt the tip of his tongue lick down my chest and over to a nipple. I gripped his hair as I started to expect the bite. I wasn't disappointed. He was slow, but he didn't stop bitting until he drew blood then he flattened his mouth over the injury and licked and kissed me until it was healed before he kissed and licked his way over to other parts of my chest.

I felt my cock as it painfully pressed up into his hard body as I laid trapped beneath him. As his tongue started to circle around my other nipple, that he took his time getting to, I felt him rotating his hips into mine before he started short thrusting movements that got harder as his dug his teeth into my body again.

"Aaahhh...," I moaned as I felt myself leak unto the two of us. Inuyasha moaned over my skin when he lifted his head before he started to lick at it to close the small wound. He then stopped and started to kiss his way back up to my face. I opened my eyes and watched as he came closer. His paused to kiss me on my chin before he smiled up at me.

"I remember what you like," he said with a smile that almost turned evil before he kissed me back unto the bed. His member was hot against my thigh and I had wanted it in me badly until he said those words. Now I mind started to swim from just remembering what he was talking about. I tried to just think about kissing him back. If I thought too much about what he was going to do, I knew I wasn't going to last long and oh how I wanted it to last as long as possible.

"Mum," I moaned before I caught his tongue and sucked on it before he started to pull away. He pulled away from me and I felt him kissing down past my belly button as I felt his legs sliding under me. "Ah," I gasped as hot breath was quickly followed by his mouth that enveloped my penis. I turned my head from side to side as his mouth and tongue licked and sucked and slid along the length of me.

I rocked in and out of his mouth without a conscious thought and he let me do it until I started to move faster. He pulled his mouth off of me and I arched up as I tried to follow it. That is when he caught my balls and licked across them one at a time before moving past them. I felt the tip of his tongue as he slid it across my puckered surface.

"Aahhh," I moaned out loud. His lips moved along with his tongue over me repeatedly until I opened up for him and he pushed through. I felt Inuyasha's legs against my back as he pulled me to rest on them more. I felt his fingers and claws that he carefully pressed into my skin to hold me open to him. He slide around in me along my walls. It felt like he was looking for something even though I thought that he already knew every inch of me already.

"AH!" I shouted as I jumped from the shock he gave me from his tongue finding that spot inside me. He quickly wrapped his arm around my waist to keep me from going too far and to pull me back to where he wanted me to be. Familiarity washed over me as the bottom of my left foot laid flat somewhere on his back. My other leg dangled to the side as I was jolted again and again. Inuyasha started to growl. I felt it move from every part of him that was touching me. It radiated across my skin and into my flesh. I clawed at our bed as I felt myself nearing the edge of this delicious torture.

"Inuyasha," I said horsely at first.

"Inuyasha," I said loader as I felt the walls around my mind start to fail. I fell. My ass fell from the high he was holding me at. His legs I now felt crossed under me. His hands were palm down on my torso as I felt the burning heat of his mouth as it enclosed and sucked on my manhood. I melted and exploded at the same time.

"INUYASHA!" I screamed as I forcefully expelled all that I had to give into him.


	81. Chapter 81

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Chapter 81

"How long will you be gone?" My Lord Sesshomaru asked me as he sat so high above me.

"I don't know My Lord," I honestly answered. "We hope to have the ningen scourge removed in a fortnight, but that is if everything works as planed," I explained to him with my head bowed. I had waited as long as I could to ask this of My Lord Sesshomaru, just because I didn't want to leave him, but Juro had persuaded me that everyone of us was needed and that I could come back once it was over. But for how things were turning out around here, I might not be needed anymore or missed and quite honestly I don't know if I would want to come back with so many ningens around.

"Very well," My Lord Sesshomaru spoke. "You may leave," My Lord said as he pulled a scroll unto the table in front of him.

"Thank you My Lord. Thank you," I said as I started to back out with my head still bowed.

"Master Jarkin," Rin said as she saw me closing to the door to my My Lord's library. "Where is Juro?"

"He is at my home child," I told her stiffly. I helped take care of her as much as My Lord did and she doesn't ask me how I have faired since she last saw me. I turned and walked towards the front door.

"Can I come with you to see him?" she asked as she started to walk behind of me.

"Don't you have a lesson to attend?" I asked Rin in return as I turned around to face her. I looked up into her face and realize that she had grown a bit in the few years she had been traveling with me and My Lord.

"Nope," she announced as she shook her head. "Not for a while," she told me.

"Well you still can't come," I told her and turned back towards the door.

"Why not?" she asked as she started walking behind me again.

"Because we are leaving today and I won't have time to bring you back here," I told her. I placed my fingers in the long carved out finger hold in the wooden surface to open the door when I got to it and pulled it aside before I started down the path away from the house.

"You're leaving?" she asked with a surprising amount of sadness in her voice. I stopped and turned around. She was standing just inside the doorway looking at me with her hands balled up as they clung to the sides of her robes.

"That is what I said," I told her.

"I'm going to miss you Master Jarkin!" Rin shouted before she ran towards me and hugged me so hard I was gasping for a breath.

"Le..Let Me Go..go!" I demanded and sputtered a few times as I fought for the air to say those three words and to breath. I then fell three feet to the ground. I was grateful for not landing on my head, but my backside still hurt. I glared up at the girl but I couldn't see her face. She was crying while she rubbed her eyes and wiped tears away from her cheek and chin.

"Do you promise that you'll come back?" Rin asked as she started to lower her hands. _As much as she is crying now, I'm sure in a few days she won't even remember to ask about me_, I told myself as I thought about leaving without answering her.

"I'll try," I decided to tell her. _I'll try to live that is for sure, but as for coming back here, I wasn't sure yet. _

"Thank you Master Jarkin," she said.

"Mmm," I acknowledged and turned to leave.

"Tell Juro that I said hello and I hope he comes back too," she said a little louder when I was further away from her. I just kept on walking. I made it all the way to the gates of my Lord's home before I heard Rin go back inside and close the door.

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"Kagome-sama. Kagome-sama," I heard Rin say before I saw her running into the room and up into my lap.

"What's wrong?" I asked her as I hugged her to me. All I could do was hold her as she cried on my chest and had her arms wrapped around me. _Sesshomaru did something happen? _I asked him.

_Jaken left,_ was all he said.

_He left? _I asked him. _Him just leaving wouldn't have Rin crying like this, _I told him.

_He didn't just leave, _Sesshomaru explained. _He went off to war._

_War?_ I asked him surprised. _He told her that he was going to war? _I asked with as much surprise as I could convey.

_I believe that he just told her that he was going away, _Sesshomaru reassured me. I held her close and brushed my hand over her hair as she slowly stopped crying. I felt as some of my heartache over this reach Sesshomaru before he closed his mind to mine.

"It's going to be all right," I told her.

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HAH!" I took a step forward and angled my rod downward.

"HU!" Miroku said as he hit back causing me to duck out of the path of his fighting staff. I saw the concentration in his eyes as he looked for an opening. I went topless about and hour ago when I saw how he was sweating under his robes. It wasn't a bad idea since it worked and he took his shirt off also. I kept track of his swings as I watched sweat drops as they made their way down his body until they were absorbed into his waist band.

I saw a fast movement and jumped back out of the reach of his staff and dug my fingers into the tammi mat to make sure I didn't go too far and knock out another wall again.

"Do you want to take a brake?" I asked as I stood up and looked at him as he wiped even more sweat from his forehead. It's the first time that I've asked since we started our sparing session. His hair stuck to his forehead and the back of his neck. His chest heaved as he breathed deeply as he kinda thought it over.

"Do you need a brake?" he asked with a half sided grin on his face. "You seem to be a bit distracted," he pointed out as the grin took over the rest of his face and he bent low and at an angle as he gripped his staff in preparation for an attack. "And people call me a leach," he said under his breath knowing I would hear him.

"Fine," I said as I prepared to charge. I have seen him use this stands before, but he could go a number of ways. _I will hedge my bet on him staying low. _I started to circle him and have him think about the number of ways I could attack before I actually did. Hopefully that would give me an opening to trip him.

I felt my muscles as they started to tense when I choose this moment to lunge for him. I swept my rod against the floor and towards him so he would stop it with his staff and he did, then I twisted it as it stayed in contact with his and had it make contact with the leg on the opposite side of his body.

Miroku was on the floor looking up at me and I was about to land over him when the door banged causing me to look up and pause for a moment too long. I saw Shippo standing in the door way looking at us as I felt something come in contact with my shin and knocking me to the ground. The moment I hit the mat I felt and saw Miroku as he now straddled me and pressed his staff across my chest.

"I think I'll come back later," I heard the brat say.

"Oh no you don't," I said as I pulled my eyes from Miroku's and looked in Shippo's direction. "What did you come in here for?" I asked him as I felt Miroku get off of me. I sat up and looked at Shippo as he came further into the room.

"Jaken went to war," he said.

"Hah?" I asked him.

"Master Jaken?" Miroku asked him and Shippo nodded his head. _When did he start to call him Master?_

"Why is the imp going to war?" I asked. "What war?" I then asked. He shrugged his shoulders before he sat down in front of me.

"It's some ningin war that is coming too close to his clan, so they are going to fight them off their lands to keep themselves from being caught in the cross fire,"Shippo said.

"That's dumb," I said as I started to wipe down parts of my body with a piece of my loose clothing. "They are still going to die if they start fighting soldiers," I explained. "Why don't they just move since they know that they coming?" I then asked since that would be easier for them to do.

"Jaken said something about how it has always being their home. If one of them left and then wanted to return, they could always be found there," Shippo said with another shrug. "I told him that they should leave and come back later too, but he was stubborn about it," Shippo replied.

"Well it's up to him how he wants to get killed," I said as I stood up and turned to walk towards the barrels of water. I reached for a drinking bowl and took out some water to drink. I felt the cold liquid moving down the inside and out side of throat as I drank.

"Now get out of here before I decide your's," I told him as I turned around and walked back to where I was standing before.

"Sore looser," the brat said as he stood. I took a swing with my staff, just to tap him of course, but he dodged it and bounced out of the room. I turned back to Miroku and watched him as he stood, peeled off what little was left covering his chest before he took a similar path to the water barrels. I waited until he was standing across from me again before I said anything.

"Ready?" I asked him with a grin as he placed both hands on his staff.

"The question, is are you ready?" he informed before he lunged for my midsection.

**- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - **

I held Rin's hand as I walked with her down the hallway to where she would be having her lesson. We expected to find Shippo already there so we didn't go looking for him. Normally they had all their lessons in the morning before lunch, but the sensei was unable to make it until this afternoon. Sesshomaru didn't give me all the details and I didn't want to push. I really didn't really need to know and if I did, Sesshomaru would have told me.

Rin was starting to smile as she recited to me again, since yesterday, what part of the story that they heard yesterday. She relayed it as if it was a story and not history, but she seemed to have remembered a good deal of it this way.

I knocked on the door and entered before I heard anyone answer, since I wasn't entering someone's bedroom and we were expected. There on a pillow talking to the sensei was Shippo. He wasn't sitting on it, but laying on the floor with the pillow under his crossed hands that were under his head. He stayed where he was as we walked further into the room while the sensei stood to greet us.

"My apologies for not being here this morning Kagome-sama," he said as he bowed his head.

"It's alright," I told him with smile.

"Now you two enjoy your lesson," I told Rin and Shippo.

"Yes Kagome-sama," they both said happily before Rin took a seat and Shippo turned back to the sensei. I left the room and thought about reading over a chapter that I tried to read the night before. I fell asleep on my second pass through it.

_If it wasn't for the scent of that little girl on you, I would think you just came from meeting with that...sensei? _The voice accused, insulted and questions all in one go. I turned around and there was Sesshomaru's mother walking towards me. She wore something light with soft colours of white and yellow with a few dots or flowers of blue.

_I was taking Rin to her lesson, _I told her evenly.

_I wouldn't have blamed you if you did. You are a ningen and he's a ningen. Why wouldn't the two of you seek some time together if you both wanted to? _She told me as she came to a stop.

_For one thing he's over forty years old, _I told her.

_My son is over three hundred. I fail to see your point with that fact, _she countered.

_I love Sesshomaru, _I tried to yell at her without saying anything out loud. She must have thought that that was something of point since she didn't come back at me with anything.

"Kagome-sama," she said with a bow that I didn't expect. "Until later," she finished when she was looking at me again before she continued on her path past me.


	82. Chapter 82

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Chapter 82

"Three years?" Sango asked as she sat next me with her own book of hand drawn kimono designs.

"I don't think it will take you that long to find one that you like," I told her her as I carefully turned the page of my own book. I really didn't want to rip it. I could see it sitting in some museum back home and I couldn't stop myself from treating it somewhat delicately.

"I'm taking about you and Sesshomaru-sama," she explained. As she said it, I realized that I knew this was coming somewhere in the back of my mind. That bit of information had been let out of the bag three days ago and Sango arrived this morning in time for breakfast to hear about it from Rin. Shippo once again let it be known that he thought very little of the gift. Lucky for him Sesshomaru was already sitting at the table to keep Inuyasha from hitting him.

_Can I tell her? _I asked Sesshomaru before I told her anything. Then there was a pause from him. It was so long that I was starting to think that he had cut himself off from me and didn't hear my question at all. Then I felt something that I was starting to feel a lot of now that so many people were interacting with us.

It was the feeling of being private. It wasn't like when he would cut off the link to spear me from hearing something I shouldn't. This was a feeling of wanting to keep something to himself or ourselves.

_It's alright. I won't tell her, _I reassured him.

_Thank you hatsukoi,_ he answered before I felt something that I called a mental hug. I wasn't sure if what I did felt the same to him, but I loved how his felt to me.

"Kagome?" Sango asked. The banner in front of me came into clearer focus and I turned to look at the woman who had become a very dear friend to me.

"It's just something we want to kept to ourselves. At least for a while longer," I told her. I then smiled and thought of something before she started to feel hurt by my words. "But since we'll both be demons, I'm sure I'll be able to tell you in forty years or so," I told her with a small laugh.

"You are right," she said with an easy sigh. "It's not my place to ask such a personal thing anyway," Sango said before she adjusted her seat and gave her attention back to the book.

"You are going to have the turning at your mating aren't you Sango?" I asked when I realized that she hadn't said anything about it. At all. I just thought that it was a given. We were marring demons after all. She turned one page before she looked at me again.

"I want too," she said, but she made it sound like she might not do it all the same.

"But?" I pressed her.

"I... I don't know," she confessed. "I know I should. I want to and it will help when the times comes for me to give birth. But for some inside reason I don't think I should and I don't know why," Sango said as her voice cracked in something that could almost be called a small sob on her last word.

I reached out and tried to hug her. I was three years younger than Sango, but she gladly took the shoulder that I gave her to cry on. She sniffled a little, but she didn't really cry as she now hugged me back. I looked around and everyone who was watching, turned back to what they were doing before they noticed us.

_Kagome, bring Sango to the library, _Sesshomaru told me.

_Ok, _I told him as I gave Sango a final pat on her shoulder. "Sesshomaru wants to see you," I told her softly. She lifted her head and looked at me abit confused as she cleaned her face to make sure nothing was there. She didn't have anything to worry about, her eyes weren't even red.

"What for?" she asked when she was finished.

"He didn't tell me," I told her as I also shrugged my shoulders. She nodded her head in understanding as she stood. I stood and then walked next to her. When I saw Kisho starting to walk towards us, I remembered what we were doing before Sango started our little conversation.

"Have you not found something that pleases you?" he asked with a slightly worried smile on his face as he looked at Sango.

"No, that's not it," I quickly informed him. "We just have to see Sesshomaru-sama," I told him. "We'll be back," I ended hoping this wouldn't take too long.

"Yes, Kagome-sama," he said with a bow as he moved out of our way to let us pass. I looked around before we left the room to see Rin getting fitted while Shippo was getting measured again. As we neared the library, I realized that someone was in there with Sesshomaru. I don't know if it came from the link I had with him, or this was something else. I paused to adjust my clothes in case it as his mother on the other side of the door, which caused Sango do to the same before I lightly knocked on the door.

_Come in Kagome,_ he told me and I opened to door to see him standing with Katsuand Kouga. I didn't expect any of them to be there, but for some reason seeing Kouga was the bigger surprise. Maybe it was because he didn't show up with Sango this morning.

"What's wrong?" Sango quickly asked as she walked in ahead of me.

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_Something was wrong. To many people were in this room. Did something happen to the clan? What would have brought Kouga here a day early? _I stepped closer and then stood still as I waited for someone to tell me something.

"I'll go back and wait for you there Sango," Kagome told me from the door. I turned in time to see her nod before she left the room. I turned back and looked at the three men looking back at me.

"What's wrong?" I asked again to all of them. _How bad could it be?_ I looked over Kouga and Sesshomaru's captain of the guards. Neither looked like they were in a battle or a fight of any kind, but that didn't mean that there wasn't one, just that they weren't a part of it. I watched Sesshomaru as he sat down at the table, that Kouga never stood up from, as he looked over at the captain and nodded for him to speak.

"A few days ago we were informed of a lone boy in battle gear, wondering in the hills near our eastern boarder. Almost half of them were just rumors, but we found some evidence that there was something to the others. We then received orders from Sesshomaru-sama to track down this person. Last night, while we believed ourselves to have been tracking this person, we crossed paths with Kouga-sama of the Eastern Wolf Tribe," he paused to nod in Kouga's direction. "He then informed us that he was tracking a boy by the name of Kohaku, his mate-to-be's otoutosan," he stopped talking but continued to look at me. They all looked at me.

_Kohaku, they found Kohaku. Where was he?_

"We camped together that night and picked up the trail again early in the morning. We found a boy, about seventeen summers old, killing a demon just before noon. It appeared as if he had killed it some time earlier, but he was beating pieces of it into the ground. We," he stopped as he seemed to regret what he had just said, but once I acknowledged that he had stopped talking, I saw Kohaku again. He was banging away at a limb or something as they stood back and watched. He was tired and bruised, but he just kept going.

I felt someone as they placed their arm around me. I looked to my side to see that it was Kouga. He tightened his arm around my waist, while the fingers of his other hand started to wipe at my cheeks and chin. I then realized that the captain had stopped talking because I had been crying. I moved Kouga's hand away and quickly wiped my face clean with the sleeve of my own outfit.

"Please continue," I told the other demon when I was sure I looked better and told myself not to cry again. As Kouga started to pull way, I held on to him to keep him where he was. I needed him at my side right now. He stayed and placed his arm around my shoulder now to gave it a little squeeze as the captain started to talk again.

"Kouga-sama identified the boy as being your otoutosan, so we stepped in closer to see how he would react to us. It took him a few moments, but he did turn towards us once he realized that we were there. He repositioned his hold on the chain scythe and he looked like he was willing to fight with us to the death, but then he just fell over," he ended.

_He's dead, _I thought. I felt the blood leave my body as my fingers went cold first. My shoulder, that was starting to go cold also, was being rubbed as I heard Kouga tell me something.

"He's not dead," he kept whispering to me until it sank in.

"Where is he?" I manged to ask him without having my voice sounding like it belonged to someone else.

"We took him to Masami-sama's home before coming here to report to Sesshomaru-sama," the captain answered.

"Can I go to see him?" I asked everyone but turned to look at Sesshomaru.

"Tomorrow," he stated. "He was unconscious all the way back and he wouldn't be able to talk to you until tomorrow morning at the earliest," he told me with logic that I didn't appreciate at the moment, but understood.

"I would like to be told if his condition gets worst. Awake or not, I want to be with him," I now stated.

Sesshomaru nodded before he stood. "Katsu-teichou you may see the scribe now," he directed at said demon.

"Yes Sesshomaru-sama," he said before bowing and leaving the room.

"Is there anything that you wish to discus with me?" Sesshomaru asked both of us.

"No Sesshomaru-sama," Kouga said. "Thank you for your help in this matter," he said before I felt him starting to bow.

"Thank you Sesshomaru-sama," I said as I now bowed at him also, before letting Kouga steer me out of the room.

"Where do you want to go?" Kouga asked me as we stood still in the hall way. I wanted to go and see Kohaku, but Sesshomaru was right. He wouldn't know that I was there and I couldn't do anything to make him better. I should let the healer do what she could to save him.

"I," I started. "I was with Kagome trying to pick out something new to wear for Inuyasha's and Miroku's mating," I informed him. "But I don't feel up for it," I confessed. "I don't really need one, but I'm sure they wouldn't mind making something new for you," I informed him as I made up my mind to think about something I could do.

"I don't think that would fit in very well with my furs and armor back home, or least not for long," he said with his toothy grin.

"You don't take it home," I told him with a small smile on my lips as I tried to make it appear as if I was feeling better.

"Do I just give it back to the tailer after the mating?" he asked with an all out laugh as I started to steer us back to where Kagome was waiting for me. I didn't feel as heavy now. We had found Kohaku, and I had Kouga and I was going to see Inuyasha and Miroku get mated soon. It was a good day.

"You leave it here, in our room," I told him as I remembered what Kagome told me.

"And it will be ok there?" he asked.

"At least as safe as my own kimono will be. Kagome said that the room is ours for as long as we could possible want it," I explained.

**- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - **

_Yes, Haha-ue,_ I welcomed her as she stepped into my library.

_I just came to ask about the two males that were in here earlier, _she informed me as she took a seat a decent distant away. I had already informed her not to upset Kagome and she had quite quickly agreed. But if I knew my mother, I knew that if she wanted to make trouble, she would find a way.

_It is of no concern to you Haha-ue, _I informed her.

_Nothing concerns me anymore, _she wined. _I need to hear something about something, _she further insisted. I stayed quited as I continued to look over what I was reading before Katsu-teichou and Kouga had arrived.

_I remembered Kouga, _she started. _He was an interesting cub. How is his father? _She asked me.

_He was killed over five years ago, _I informed her.

_Oh? Such a shame. I met him years ago when I was oh so young. I was barely two hundred when I first laid eyes on him. He almost sweep me away with all his talk of moon lit nights and walking in fields of lavender and Satsuma hototogisu by day, _she recounted.

It wasn't a surprise to me that he had been one of her suiters. She always bragged about who came to see her. The amount of gifts she got or how she was envied when wearing one piece in particular on a certain occasion.

_But I would not have had such a fine a son as you if I had mated with him, _she now continued. _Having you was worth the wait for the right mate, _she told me before I felt her stand. Since I wasn't really concentrating on the paper I was holding, I looked up at her. She some how seemed a little older, and a little less sharp at the moment.

_Yes haha-ue, _I prompted her.

_She told me that she loves you, _she told me. I waited to hear what else she had to say. _I couldn't say that I really loved anyone until I was being courted by your father. That is why I left when I found out that he wanted to bring a filthy ningen into our home..._

_Haha-ue, _I said to stop her before so started to say something that she couldn't take back. I watched as she pulled her emotions back in. She laid her hands flat against her robes, and pushed down on her palm. It was a mix of drying and calming motion.

_Do you believe yourself to be in love with...Kagome-sama? _She now asked me. I leveled my gaze at her as I thought of what she wanted besides an answer. But I couldn't find anything.

_Yes Haha-ue. I do love her,_ I honestly answered her. She nodded her head two times as she took it in.

_I never thought of coming here to cause you distress, _she told me as she walked towards me and my desk that I had between us. Normally it was pushed up against the wall and I would sit at with my back to the door, but it was turned around now that people were going to start arriving for Inuyasha's mating. As it proved earlier, it was ideal for small, important gatherings.

_Then why did you come Haha-ue? _I asked her. _I haven't seen you in over eighty years, _I informed her.

_I heard you were getting mated, and a mother should be there when her son gets mated, _she answered me.

_And now that you know I won't be mated for three years? Why stay? Didn't you abandon, me and this house because of Inuyasha's mother? _I plainly and a little bitterly asked her. She looked away, then back at me again.

_Because I wanted to say I was sorry, _she told me. I didn't believe her. She never said sorry for anything.

_**# ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ #** _

**Otoutosan** – This is how you say younger brother when that person is in someone else's family. If you are talking about your younger brother you just say otouto.

**Satsuma hototogisu**_ - _This is the Japanese common name for a orchid like flower that grows wild.

* * *

I'm back :)

A post a day except Friday/Saturday, depending on how you look at it.

I'm working on the last or second to last chapter, depending on what I write next.

Thanks to everyone to has continued to think well of me and this story. :)


	83. Chapter 83

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

* 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 = Means that it's the same POV just a shift in time.

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**Chapter 83**

She stood in front of me adjusting her light shawl. I think she was trying to place herself into a feeling that she was more conformable with.

_Why would you want to tell anyone sorry if no one told you to?_ I asked her. S_obo-ue,_ I said as it occurred to me. She was the only one that had any true power over Haha-ue.

_It doesn't matter if anyone told me to do this or not, _she now insisted. _I was indeed wrong to leave. I believe that your father wanted me to take care of you and your brother when he knew he was dying and I turned my back on him and you and …and...that.._

_Haha-ue,_ I warned her again. I leaned most of my dislikes for ningens and hanyous from her. Where as her attitude towards them may be suited to describe some of them, they were all too different to be grouped under one heading like she had them. She will have to learn to start accepting them now. _His name is Inuyasha, _I told her.

_And Inuyasha, _she now added. _You were old enough to not need me and I never really thought that your father would actually die and... _she stopped._ I wouldn't have left if I knew I was leaving you all on your own and take care of... Inuyasha... and the lands that your father left you, _she told me as she walked closer to me and laid one of her hands on one of mine.

_Still, _I insisted. _Why now? You could just have waited and made it an even one hundred years,_ I pointed out to her.

_I told you. A mother should be at her son's side when he got mated, and your father asked me help raise Inuyasha, _she paused. _I can at least try and start with being here for him, _she ended as she took her hand back. I watched as she laid it over her other arm. It was the only thing I really missed about her. Once the formal greetings were over, she always touched me some how. Half the time, it was to show me off, but at times it didn't matter why. She was my Haha-ue. Yes, mine, not Inuyasha's and he will see it that way.

_Inuyasha will not call you Haha-ue in the near future, _I told her.

_I wouldn't expect him to, _she replied. _He may even blame me for his mother's death for all I know. When did she die anyway?_ She asked with a hint of interest.

Now it was my turn to try and hide my own guilt. I had waited months before I went looking for Inuyasha to bring him back here. It was only my nagging sense of duty that got me to go, along with knowing it was something that my father would have wanted. Inuyasha could not have wanted our father to die over him like that, but that was how I saw it for a very long time.

_She died during his thirty third year, _I informed her.

_At least it wasn't while she was giving birth to him, _ she commented more to herself. _I will leave you to your work, _she told me with a slight upturn to her lips before she left the room.

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Over the next two days Inu no Kimi was seen, on her son's left with Kagome on his right, as they greeted some of the more important guests that were staying in their home until the end of the mating ceremony in the next few days.

Some of the more common people camped around the village or occupied the only guest house in the village. Other invited guests sent letters saying that they were going to show up in time for the actual ceremony because they had matters that wouldn't let them arrive any sooner.

Today marked the first of the three days that would be needed to have the grounds cleaned and prepared for the ceremony that were to start on the forth day. Masami spent some time each day at the shrine informing the priest who would be officiating on the differences that marked this mating.

She herself checked a number of times to make sure that she had what she needed for her part in the turning part of the ceremony. She had acquired the correct large, nearly cavernous, bowl. She had a room set up, not too far away, that held a spare supply of all the herbs, potions and tools that she may need and some that she hoped she wouldn't.

Today was the day that the group had been looking forward to. Mostly. Shippo, after thinking very little of Maroku's gift to Inuyasha, held out no hope for a better one from his former group leader. It wasn't that he thought less of Inuyasha, it was just the opposite really. Shippo had seen Inuyasha change over the last nine or so months and approved of most of it.

Inuyasha stopped hitting him on the head, which he was the most grateful for, but he half hoped it was because he now almost as tall as him. He also saw how less moody he seemed to be. He was almost smiling all the time now.

"Come on," Rin said as she moved past him into the room next to her's with a hand full of his new clothes.

"I'm coming," he said as he got back to moving to his new room. He was going to miss not sharing a room or area with someone at night, but Masami said that it was time. Almost every day since Kohaku was left in Masami's care, Shango had visited to see about his progress and had carried Shippo by to have his progress checked at the same time.

She believed that he was at the end of his growth spurts and that this may be the height that he was to carry for the rest of his life. When asked why, she pointed out that different fox demon off shoots had their own heights and from what she could tell of his and the description of his father, it would be very unlikely to get any taller since he would be about his father's height now and that was the top height for their kind. Now that he was at the end of his height growth, the rest of his body would continue to develop for just a little while longer. He would be going through his version of puberty, which in Sesshomaru's mind meant that it was time for him to have his own room. A thought that Masami agreed with.

Masami welcomed their visits and considered seeing Sango and Shippo as a far less taxing part of her day. Her shrine visits weren't that bad and it was nice to see the shine being brought back to a glory it hadn't seen in a few decades. But taking care of the Sango's otoutosan proved perplexing.

Once she realized that Kohaku had already been killed and then given life again with shards from the tainted Shikon no Tama, Masami grew less hopeful of being able to save him. She was reluctant to share this information until she had done some research, but what would she research? Documented properties of the Shikon no Tama that were just about none existent? How to cage an echo of a spirit in a body that it had already abandoned?

Masami was starting to believe that all she could do was keep him safe, and asleep until the dying essence of Naraku had finished dissipating. That part of this large puzzle was one of the few things that Masami had been able to understand instantly. Once Naraku died his essence that he had used to taint the shards with were slowly leaving the shards he had placed in Kohaku. The fact that he was found on Sesshomaru's land showed that he might have been trying to find them, but as the days passed, most of what made up Kohaku left him and he became less full of life. When he was brought to her, Masami believed that he was just functioning on the last bits of strong memories that he had, which happened to be fighting demons.

It was after today's meeting with Sango that Masami believed that she had fund the answer to their problem. She finished writing her letter to Kagome before she called for one of her messenger boys to deliver it. When Mai appeared in the room, she was informed that the two errand boys hadn't returned yet. This granted Mai a visit to Sesshomaru's house that day.

Mai took the note and returned to her own guest who was waiting in the kitchen for her. Dai who would have felt a lot better waiting outside, stood quickly when he heard someone entering the room. His show of being nervous changed to pure happiness that the young were gifted in showing so openly.

With the wedding of Inuyasha and Mirou being behind the short term boom of the their village, they felt more at ease walking down the streets side my side. By this time everyone knew that they had pledged themselves to each other and some of the villagers who were against it had a slight change of heart due to a few other changes around them.

Once they passed the last house that marked the boundary of the village, they held hands and walked a bit slower in the direction of Sesshomaru's home. Dai now had the permission of his master to mate with Mai, but they had yet to set a true date for the occasion and had happily been swept up with what had taken over the village. The slight talk of a ningen war that was now far to the south, didn't stop them from talking of all the new people they were seeing, tales about the outfits that were going to be worn and the stories of how everyone who came for the mating met Inuyasha and members of his group.

They passed a few of them now that they were half way to their's lords home. To their right, they saw a large camp that was for a young lord and a number of boys who had been sacrificed to a water spirit, one of them in his stead, for months until Inuyasha showed up and put and end to it.

Just beyond them, also on their right, was Jinenji. He was one of the earlier arrivals and had met Mai, who waved at him as they walked by, when she was told to look for this large half demon who had some living herbs to give to the healer of the village. Jinenji's mother had died last spring from a flu that weakened her faster than the medicine had time to cure her. But the villagers had all turned out for her funeral and now had some respect for him.

Mai and Dai could now see the gates to Sesshomaru's home as they were approaching the last camp. This camp, which didn't have any tents, belonged to a small group of lynx demons. The son of the leader, named Bunza, was sitting closet to the path looking at the other human children as they played two camps down and looked a little outside of it all until an even smaller lynx demon, in it's animal form, came by and rubbed itself against the boy's leg.

"Hello Torako," the boy said with a smile as he scratched behind her ears. She purred a little before making a few yelping sounds and walking down the path past the couple before breaking out into a run towards the boys and the games they were currently playing.

As the messenger and her companion arrived at the gates, she asked Dai to wait for her. He gladdy complied and transformed his legs back to a tail that he sat on until her return.

_**# ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ #** _

**Sobo-ue - **Sobo mean grandmother when you are talking about your own grandmother, and I found out that 'ue' means above, and denotes a high level of respect.

**Inu no Kimi **– Sesshomaru's mother name as I found it. I know it's not a real name, just like his dad, but I'm not rocking that boat. :) At least not yet as far as I know.

***NOTE** - the people that I talked about that were camped outside of Sesshomaru's home are people that Inuyasha and the gang met and helped in the anime. The one with the boys are from ep 27 and the last one, the lynx demons, are from ep 72.


	84. Chapter 84

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Chapter 84

_Do you wish for me to accompany you?_Sesshomaru asked me as he brushed my hair.

_If you could spear the time to walk with me there,_ I told him as I looked out the window. It was a beautiful day and Masami's note didn't make me feel like anything was wrong, so I didn't have a reason to feel that it wouldn't end just as well. I then saw Sesshomaru and myself floating on a cloud as we held on to each other as he took me to Masami's house tonight. I smiled to myself as I felt Sesshomaru as he brushed my hair a little slower as he continued to feed me this lovely vision of how we would enjoy our 'walk' tonight.

_We can walk on the way back when there are less people about to buy for our attention, _he explained to me.

_Yes Sesshomaru, _I told him in agreement before I started to think of what kind of gift Inuyasha would be giving to Miroku. Inuyasha was out of time, he had to give it to him tonight or it would appear as if he had changed his mind.

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"You can't tell me it's still not done yet!" Inuyasha-sama roared at me. I stepped back as he curved his fingers expertly showing off his claws that I could swear I smelt acid coming from.

"It will be finished in time for the evening meal," I promised him as I stressed a few key words and backed up even further unto the wall.

"It was suppose to be done yesterday," Inuyasha-sama pointed out to me as he held his threating ground.

"We received new orders to document stories from a new set of guests," I told him before backing up again as I saw him resent my excuse. "You told me to do it in secret," I started to shout. "I couldn't tell anyone that I was busy with something else!" I just about screamed as I closed my eyes hoping that my words would reach him so he wouldn't hurt me. I continued to wait for anything for a bit longer than I expected.

"You are lucky that I need you to finish this tonight," I heard Inuyasha-sama say from a bit further away from me, in a far less threating voice.

"Thank you Inuyasha-sama," I told him after I opened my eyes as I moved back into the room in a slow manner to not jar him.

"I want you there to present it to him," Inuyasha-sama said as he walked towards to the door. I bowed in his direction when I heard the door to my room being opened. "You have three hours," he informed me before he actually left. I sank to my knees and breathed deeply for a few moments before making my way over to my desk and the project that I had been working on for Inuyasha-sama for the last week in my spear time.

With three hours remaining I didn't have much time left and in some small way, my life depended on me finishing on time.

"See where bragging gets you?" I asked myself as I uncorked the ink bottle and pured it onto the ink stone. _Providing I finish on time and my work is approved, I may get that promotion that I deserve and asked for. _I think it was because he heard of my request for a promotion is why he picked me in the first place. Granted there aren't many of us, which gave us all a high chance of being picked for this task. But one would believe that the head scribe would be the natural choice for such an important task.

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I was reading as I heard the door open and close. I didn't look up since it could only be one person. I heard him as he walked past me to pour some water, which I heard him enjoy before he came and sat on the floor next to me.

"What are you reading now?" he asked with some interest.

"I got it from the library," I started as I mentally stopped reading to give Inuyasha an answer. "I seems to be something of a written history of your family. Have you read it?" I asked him in turn.

"Which volume is that?" Inuyasha asked me instead. I reversed the roll of the scroll until I got to the start of the document again. I read the rest of the information that I had glossed over the first time.

"Fifth," I answered. "How many are there?" I asked him as I moved back to the place I left off reading from.

"Not many. Just seven. Well," he amended. "There were seven when I was here fifty odd years ago, but I didn't get past the first one. I wanted to read about my father not my great, great, great grand father but my tutor said that we had to start at the beginning."

"Then I need to get the earlier ones then," I said as I closed the scroll and tied it close before looking at Inuyasha.

"It's not very interesting," he might have been warning me. "In the very first one, it seemed as if the first of our line was nothing more than a dog that was a good companion to a holy man. Back then there was more dark power than good, and he was one of the good ones, but he used some of the dark as well. Well he found this pup and took care of it for years before it occurred to him to see if he could make the dog talk. He seemed to have been a hermit that was lonely," Inuyasha said in a lighter tone.

"Well?" I asked him when he just stopped.

"Well what?" he asked as he turned to look at me.

"What happened?" I asked him.

"I don't know. That was as far as I got," Inuyasha said sounding very unconcerned. I hit him on his leg. "What was that for?" he asked as he looked at me, giving me more of his attention.

"How can you consider that uninteresting and how come you only got that far?" I questioned him.

"Well it wasn't that short. There was a long list of names first. Who mated with who. How many pups they had. What happened to each of the pups before focusing on the one that was directly related to us. That went on for a long time. Then it was written in really old Japanese. The kind that was around the Late Jōmon period, a lot of it was very confusing. That was another reason I wanted to read about my father. It was written much closer to our time," Inuyasha ended on.

"The Late Jōmon writings are hard and what was written after that for a few centuries didn't get any easier," I admitted to him. But I had been taught how to read most of it while I studied at a number of shrines through out my short life. Even Mushin was even able to teach me something from the old scrolls when he wasn't too drunk.

"Come with me," I told him as I stood from my seat.

"Where are we going?" Inuyasha asked me as he stood and followed me towards the door.

"You are going to help me look for the other volumes," I informed him as we stepped out into the hallway.

"You don't need my help for that," he started to protest. I reached out and draped my arm over his shoulders.

"I know I don't need you to help me look for a few scrolls, but I would like you to be with me as I looked for them," I informed him as I easily pulled him with me as we moved down the hallway.

"Shouldn't you be returning the other scroll to the library?" Inuyasha asked me as were about to turn a corner.

"I'll return it later if it takes me a long time to read the others," I answered him as I slide my arm down from his shoulder to his lower back and slightly around to the other side of his waist. At this point I felt him as he mimicked my arm movement and I soon felt him as he placed his hand fully on my waist.

I had a moment of thinking that we should separate before someone saw us, but then I reminded myself that they were here for our mating.

"You know that they are wondering why I haven't marked you in some way right?" Inuyasha told me as we now walked down the hall that took us right to the stairs. It could have been a question also, I admitted to myself as I replayed what he said in my head.

"Has anyone brought it up?" I asked him as we slowly made our decent.

"Not really, but I can see how they look at you. They are trying to see if you are marked anywhere," he answered as he squeezed me lightly over my hip bone.

"How would they tell?" I asked. "It's not like I wear clothing like Kagome," I pointed out to him.

"You would scratch," he said.

"Scratch?" I questioned.

"Yeah. Haven't you seen how Sesshomaru or Kagome acts when you ask them about the other person?" he asked. "They always reach for the same spot each time. They either touch it or scratch it," he quickly informed me.

"I have, at least with Kagome," I admitted. "I thought that she was just nervous about talking about Sesshomaru-sama." I had a spit second concern about not calling him sama, but considering how many people were walking around the house, I decided to play it safe.

"Is it a big deal that you didn't mark me in some way?" I asked Inuyasha as we stepped down unto the first floor.

"Not really," he said with a slight shrug. "Maybe if you were a female they might have actually asked, but I think it's something that they will let slide since you are a human male." he reasoned.

"I hope so, not that I can do much about," I told him with as smile. We arrived at the library and dropped our arms from around each other as I knocked on the door and waited for an answer. After not hearing one, I slowly slid open the door to find the room empty.

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We all sat around the table not eating and waiting for Inuyasha to say something. Once I was sure that no one was going to eat, I called for the servants to clean off the table, but instructed them to leave the wine and tea. Since the day that guests started to arrive for my brother's wedding, we had to move our meals to the larger dinning hall and I had to hire more staff to have everyone taken care of including getting the food served while it was still hot.

I did not personally hire any of them. That was Amaya's job. I just alerting her as to what might not be wise to have served when certain new guests arrived. She made sure that she always had enough help to have everything done.

Most of the friends that Inuyasha's group had made over the years almost never came into my house. Not that I would have stopped them, with much protest, but they seemed to have kept themselves separated from me. Kagome said it was because they feared me. Of course I agreed.

The guest sitting at at the table tonight were the heads of other ruling houses along with a guest of their own. Whether it be a family member or their second in command. It hadn't slipped anyone's attention when the young yōkaiess who had openly expressed her interest in Inuyasha showed up with her father the day before Inuyasha's last day to present Miroku with his gift.

I have not seen them talk to each other, but yesterday I smelled Inuyasha on her when she decided to have a small side meeting with me barely a few hours after our noon time meal. I did not question Inuyasha on it since I clearly recalled how he was highly opposed to being with her that I don't think the contact they had was anything he wanted to be a willing part of.

They now sat on the opposite side of the large table that accommodated us and the other ten guests. The meal had moved along with more chatter than I was used to, but experienced for the last four dinners. As more and more of them put down their chopsticks, the room got quieter and more focused with where and who they gave their attention too.

I could smell how nervous Inuyasha was. He manged to eat some of his meal, but at times it appeared as if he lost his appetite before regaining it again. When it was clear that everyone had finished eating I called in the servants and had them clear the table. There was some quite talking while we sat in our seats afterwards until the only thing that most of them could do was look at and wait for Inuyasha to make a move.

He called Amaya and stood when she brought in one of the scribes who walked into the room holding a box at his side that was at least two feet long. Inuyasha pointed to the spot in front of Miroku and the scribe placed the gift there. He then proceed to open it.

"We have three books for you," he said as the word 'book' fell out of his mouth awkwardly. "The first one is almost filled. Would you like to inspect it?" he asked Miroku as he pointed towards it as it sat in it's own compartment.

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There in front of me were three books that looked expertly hand made with a thick cover made from leather that was stained a great walnut colour. I placed my fingers into the compartment and took out the book. It was far thicker than I thought it would be.

"The book is held together with the finest of silk treads that have a few gold strands woven into them and then they are dipped in resin to increase their strength so they will last a very long time," he said as I moved my fingers over the cover. In the top left corner was Inuyasha's name with the addition of his title as the second son of the great Inu-yōkai who ruled the Northern Lands. I moved my fingers down and found my name in the lower left hand corner.

**Miroku-sama, monk and life mate to Inuyasha-sama.**

Something caught in my throat when I read that. I held myself together and opened it to the first page. I don't know if anyone was saying anything and at the moment I didn't care. I leafed through a few of the pages before closing and laying it back down in its place in the box. I kept my hand on it as I spent a moment appreciating the work that went into making this. It was Inuyasha's journal.

It was every thought that he had of me re-written and decorated. _How did he think of this? _I turned to look at Inuyasha for the first time since I saw the box.

"How..." I started and stopped. I felt it coming up and I couldn't chance having my voice crack like that in front of so many people.

"Well," Inuyasha started as he sat down next to me. "You gave me pens, so I know that you wanted me to continue writing, and I may in time get around to telling you everything thing that I feel for you and how I see you and want you to be with me, but for right now, I think it would easier for you to read it," he told me with one of his adorable smiles. "Besides," he added. "I always hoped to hand my journals over to you, but when I compared your hand writing to mine, I thought that it wouldn't be a bad idea to have them look a bit better and get someone, who could be trusted, to write them for me," he ended as he gave the scribe a look.

I turned and looked at the man that I hadn't taken much notice of other than the fact that he was dressed as a scribe. He was of my height with very short hair, which I thought was unusual but not that unheard of. He was just the first I had seen with such a hair cut in a while.

"What is your name?" I asked the asked the scribe. He came forward and bowed.

"My name is Nobu, Miroku-sama," he answered.

"Thank you Nobu. They look beautiful," I told him before he bowed and stepped back. I turned to look at Inuyasha again. My hand was still on the book and I moved my thumb over the word mate as I looked into his eyes.

"So what do you say?" Inuyasha asked me.

"Say to what?" I asked him.

"Haha," Inuyasha laughed as he hung his head. "Ok, I'll officially ask," he said as he raised his head to look at me again. "Miroku, well you please accept my gift and consent to mating with me with me in three days?" he asked me with a smile on his face. As he continued to look at me, his smile got a little wider.

"Yes," I answered him. I saw him starting in to lean towards me when we heard clapping coming from everyone around the table. Instead of going for the kiss Inuyasha reached over and placed his hand on mine that was still on the journal. I looked around and noted the stiff clapping motion that the female yōkai gave us as she realized we were going to be together for a very long time.

There was some chatter in the room as everyone started to get up and leave the room. I turned and looked back at Inuyasha as we just sat there.

"Thank you," I told him.

"You're welcomed," he said as he reached his other hand out and held my face before wiping his thumbs across my cheeks. I guess I didn't manage to stop myself from crying after all I realized. I leaned in and kissed him as he leaned in to kiss me. I felt his smile against my own before we kissed and parted to now look at the books together.

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**Jōmon Period **- The Jōmon period is the time in Japanese prehistory from about 14,000 BCE to 300 BCE. The term jōmon means "cord-patterned" in Japanese. This refers to the pottery style characteristic of the Jōmon culture.

***Note - BCE - **"Before the Common Era". Since the later 20th century, usage of CE and BCE has been popularized in academic and scientific publications. Replaces B.C. and also know as Before Christian Era.


	85. Chapter 85

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Chapter 85

"Are you going to Masami-sama's" Kagome asked her friend as we all started to stand from the table.

"No, I already saw Kohaku this afternoon" she answered her as they walked side by side. Behind the other guests that I had willing lost my Haha-ue in. I noticed that Inuyasha and Miroku weren't following us, but I didn't look back to see what they were doing. They seem to be well matched and on some level I wished that they would have the life together that they wanted.

"Why do you ask?" I heard Sango as she continued her talk with Kagome.

"I got a note from her saying that she wanted to see me after our evening meal. Sesshomaru-sama is going to walk me there and back and I was just wondering if you were going there tonight also so we could have all gone together," she told her.

_Trying to actually walk to Masami's home? _I asked Kagome.

_I thought that she already went, I was being kind by asking her to make sure. We are friends, and friends do that, _she told me while Sango talked to her about her visit to Masami-sama's. Kohaku seemed to not have really woken up since he was placed in Masami's care, and only mumbling a few words before he would go quite again for a long time.

Kagome told me that none of the words were good. She said that all the words heard from Kohaku were related to Naroku or fighting. From their current conversation it seemed that he might have been sent to kill another demon to get their shard for Naroku. I watched them as they continued to talk as we all walked down the hall towards the front door. Kouga had already taken his leave and said that he would wait for Sango in their room.

As we arrived at the door, Sango said goodbye and Kagome walked out into the night in front of me. I followed her and we did walk half way to my gate before I pulled her close and held her there as I started to lift us both off the ground. We looked down and saw all the night time fires of the camps that were outside of our gates. I was kind of pleased that Inuyasha had been able to make friends while I was being too stubborn to help him and picked a few fights of my own with him.

_Inuyasha is a rather likable person,_ Kagome told me as we the neared the edge of the village.

_I can see that, _I answered her. It took me a while, but I saw how he would rather be friendly than at odds with someone, but his temper was too short when he enters into a situation that was already heated.

_In an odd way he was trying to be like you, _Kagome said.

_How do you see that? _I asked her.

_Well for starters he tired to get the jewel in the first place so he could be a full demon like you, _Kagome told me as she honored me with one of her smiles that seemed to be just as heartfelt then the ones she showed early in our relationship.

_He told you this?_ I asked as she turned to look a head of us. I mirrored her actions and took some notice of our surroundings. We were over the village now and would be at Masami-sama's home soon.

_He didn't have too, but yes, _was her short answer. _I can see how much he looks up to you. Even before you made up with him, he was proud of you as a brother. Well, _she paused as I landed us in Masami's garden_. At least when he wasn't cursing you out for attacking him again over his sward. _Kagome finished. I had touched down at the far end of Masami's garden and I steered Kagome towards the front door.

_Why did you stop attacking him over the Tetsusaiga? _She asked as we rounded the last corner and were walking towards the front door that we both now saw.

_I realized, after far longer than I would like to admit to, that my, our, father left me far more than he left him. I was he first born. I got his title, his lands, and his wealth which came with responsibility and respect. Inuyasha was given one sword, that at one point was part of our father, but it was for protection, _I finished as we neared the door.

_That is reassuring to hear, _Kagome told me as she ran her fingers causally through her hair.

_Why is that? _I asked her as I knocked on the door.

_I was just thinking that you would be able to spend some time bonding with Inuyasha as you both go to Tōtōsai to ask him about both your swords, _she ended. I turned and looked at her as I smelled Masami-sama's servant girl approaching the door.

"I'll tell you about it later," she said out loud as the door was opened.

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I sat waiting for them since I sensed their presence as they landed in my garden. I expected them to walk in through the open side door like Sesshomaru-sama had started to become fond of doing lately. I stood as I heard them approaching the room I was currently occupying.

I watched as Mai opened the door and ushered them in.

"Good evening Sesshomaru-sama, Kagome-kyou," I said in turn as I bowed to them.

"Good evening Masami-sama," they said at almost the same time. I suppressed as smile as we all sat down.

"Would you care for some tea?" I asked both of them. They nodded and Mai quickly moved to provide three cups and to fill them with some tea that I had already prepared. Once Mai was finished I proceeded to get to why I asked her here. "Kagome-kyou," I started. "Is it true that you are capable of purifying the shards of the Shikon Jewel?" I asked her.

"I was able to a while ago, but I haven't tried in a long time," she answered me. This added another question mark to my formulated plan. I sat back and tried to think of what my next move would be. I didn't miss her slightly perplexed and somewhat worried look, while Sesshomaru-sama slowly drank from his cup.

"I was hoping to enlist your help in perhaps saving Kohaku-kun and giving him back the life that he was robbed of so early in his young existence," I started. "I have researched everything that I can. I have tried a number of things to correct his current condition until it became clear that the only thing that tied his sprite to a body that should have been buried years ago, were the tainted shards of the Shikon Jewels that were placed in his body," I continued to explained. "I'm not sure that this will even work, but considering that if we did nothing we would loose him anyway, so I believed that it would be worth trying," I ended.

"You wanted me to try purifying the shards?" Kagome-kyou asked me.

"Hi," I told her as I nodded my head.

"But wouldn't that just make him die sooner?" she asked this time.

"I'm not sure," I once again confessed. "Perhaps the power of a pure Shikon jewel shard would restore him back to how he was. But we honestly wouldn't know until we tried," I explained. "But you would have to practice on something else for a while before we would know even if you could purify the shards at all," I pointed out.

The girl was quite for a moment as she thought this through. She could have been thinking a number of things really as I waited for her answer. Did she want to try and fail? At either being able to purify anything or being able to and still killing the boy? I had already told her that if he died, it wasn't a worst fate than what was before him at the moment.

"I would like to try," Kagome-kyou said as she spoke up. "But I would like to practice on the shards in Kohaku," she stated. I raised an eyebrow at her interesting condition. "We don't know how much time he has left, and I don't want to waste what could prolong his life practicing on some possessed cup," she explained. _I may come to like this one, _I told myself as I started to bow.

"As you wish Kagome-kyou," I answered her. "But I insist that we start this tomorrow after the morning meal. You will need your rest for such a task," I advised her.

"Ok," she answered. We then sat for a moment as she picked up her cup and drank a little as Sesshomaru-sama lowed his and pondered something for a moment before the look took over their eyes.

"We will take our leave," Sesshomaru-sama said as they came out of their mental time together.

"Thank you for taking the time to meet with me," I told both of them before we stood and bowed to each other. Mai saw them out then returned to the room.

"Will there be anything else Masami-sama?" she asked from out in the hallway through the open door.

"No, you may leave for the night," I told her. She bowed her understanding and thanks before turning around and leaving. I raised my cup again and finished what was it. I didn't have much left to do with Inuyasha-sama's mating and there was nothing left for me to do with the ningen boy other than help Kagome-kyou tap into some of that power that she still possessed.

I was fairly certain that she was capable of purifying the shards. The real question would be if she would be able to do it before the boy died. I just hoped, for the occasion at hand, that if we couldn't save him he would pass from this world at least a day or two after my lord's mating.

I placed my own cup back onto the tray with the pot of tea and stood carefully as I took it with me to my room. I didn't bother closing the side door that lead out to the garden, but I did pause to out lamps and candles that were on my way. As I entered my room, I saw that Mai had already laid out my bed and that there was a small table close by in case I needed it for anything.

I placed the tray on it as I thought of attending her mating in a few weeks. I may talk to the monks about having it at the temple when the time came. I haven't taken to a girl in my service in some years.

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Our hands were hidden under our sleeves as we walked through the mostly quite town. I was going to wait until we out of town before holding his hand, but he reached out for it before we had finished walking past Masami-sama's property. _You look like you needed to be held,_ is what Sesshomaru told me as I felt his fingers as they laced through mine.

I told him thank you and just about left it up to him to walk us out of town, but I'm sure I could have walked the right way without really looking at where I was going anyway. As we walked I thought over what Masami-sama had asked me. I was worried that I didn't tell her that the few times I had been able to purify anything, it was with Kikio's help. _What if I can't do it on my own? _ I asked myself.

Once we exited the town, I felt the shift in the direction we were walking and quickly realized that he was taking me off the the path to our home. He lead me into the middle of a small thicket of trees and as I was about to ask him what was going on, he pulled me into a hug and soon I felt his tail as it wrapped its way around both of us. I hugged him back as I remembered what he told me earlier.

_Thank you, _I told him again as I rubbed my hands across his back and under his long hair. He didn't say anything, but I felt him as he brushed my hair away and kissed my forehead before he moved back to just holding me close. I took my mind out of thinking that I couldn't do what Masami-sama wanted me to do. Everyone told me or sensed the power that I inherited from Kikio, so I should be able to use it.

Kikio was able to help me use it, because it was her power before it was passed on to me. I breathed in Sesshomaru's smell as I remembered what she told me back then. I felt my body relax and I heard her voice in my head as I remembered how I focused on the shards I had at the time and tried to make a mental path to them. Or tie some kind of inviable string to them so I could control them some how. I didn't think it would work at first. Before I came here I had tried to close my door on my bother and it never worked. But before I talked myself out trying, I remembered everything that I saw and did here in this time. If it was possible for me, to purify the shards at all, and with Kiko's help, it would be here.

_Kiagome, _Sesshomaru called out to me.

_Yes? _ I lazily answered back as I stayed in my memory.

_Please stop what you are doing, _he told me. I wrinkled my brow at his request. He wanted me to stop remembering? After the talk we had back at Masami-sama's?

_Why?_ I asked as I pulled back to look up at him. As I opened my eyes, I saw the area around us fade back into darkness. As if someone had just outed a fire or the sun had just set really fast and didn't bother with the showiness of sunset colours. I turned around to see what it was and realized that Sesshomaru's hold on me was a lot looser than I expected it to be.

"_It was you_," I heard him say with my ears as well as inside my head at the same time.

"Me?" I asked him completely confused.

"Yes, you were covered in light," he tells me with as much surprise as I ever heard him express. I looked at him not knowing why I would be covered in light as he slowly brought both his hands to my face. "I'm taking you home," Sesshomaru tells me before he pulls me back into a tight hug as he created a cloud beneath our feet. We rose up through the trees and then moved in the direction of our home.


	86. Chapter 86

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Chapter 86

I kept one of my hands pressed to the base of her spine as I took us to our home. I felt both of her arms that she had wrapped around me once again. I landed us on the balcony that belonged to our room and walked Kagome inside.

_Are you alright? _I asked her as I turned around and looked down into her face.

_I didn't think it would be that easy, _she tells me.

_What were you doing? _I asked Kagome.

_I was just remembering what I did with Kikiyo when she was trying to show me how to purify some shards we had a long time ago, _she answered. She played it for me in her mind but I also saw as she started to glow, like she did in the memory and just like she did in the ticket a few moments ago.

My hands started to get hot again and I let go of her and took a step or two back. At this distance it didn't seem to be able to do anything to me. Unlike a moment ago when we were in the ticket and I felt the pain of what she was doing, as it moved into my body from every part of her that touched some part of me.

_Kagome,_ I said again when I decided to look at her as she was in front of me, instead of into her memory. Her light had started to die down, so I assumed that her memory was coming to an end.

_Yes, _she answered me as she opened her eyes. "What happened?" she asked out loud when I saw her questioning the distance between us.

_You were tapping into power that we all knew you had, _I told her as I stepped closer and held her shoulders now that the light from her inner force had dissipated. I dipped my head some more and kissed her forehead.

_Did I...hurt you? _I felt her question in her wrinkled brow as well as in my mind before I ended the kiss.

_I am a yōkai, and you appeared to have been trying to purify something, _I told her as I wrapped her in my arms again. She held me tighter before I laid my cheek on the top of her head.

_I'm so sorry, _she said. _I didn't think anything would really happen never mind hurt you, _she continued to explain. _It never happened before, why would it happen now? _She questioned me, but I didn't have an answer for her.

_We will ask Masmai-sama tomorrow, but first you should rest, _I told her. She nodded into my chest and I waited for her to pull away first. I undressed Kagome before she helped me in the removal of some of my clothes. I held her hand and walked with her into the bathroom.

"Hahaha...," Kagome laughed softly.

_What amuses you? _I asked her as we neared the steps.

_It's just a bad joke, _she told me as she started to walk ahead of me. I stood still and watched her body as it moved upward in front of my eyes. I saw the back of her shoulders with her long black hair that looked better then when we first meet due to the attention that I now paid to it. I followed her hair down her back until I saw the small of her waist. Her hips moved from side to side as she continued to walk up the steps. Before I was given a little more time to look at her thighs, she stepped down into the tub.

She walked through the water to the other side where the soaps were lined up on the shelf that protruded from the top of the tub. I saw her as she picked up the one that I was fond of using and reached back to as if to give it to me. When she didn't feel me taking it from her, she turned around to see what I was doing.

_What are you doing over there? _She asked me with a small smile that showed she saw some humor in it.

_I was just admiring the view that you presented me with, _I told her as I smiled myself and walked up and into the tub. I felt the warm water as it reached higher and higher up my body until it stopped just above my navel. I reached out and took the bottle from her hand and my smile got a little bigger as I saw one of Kagome's memories of the monk saying something to that effect before we became a couple.

_He was correct, _I informed her as I reached for Kagome's other arm and turned her around to face me. Her skin already had that warm reddish glow from the heated water, but the red that took over most of her face now, was distinctly one of her blushes. _You are doing it again, _I told her as I started to bend my head to catcher her lips with my own.

_Glowing? _She quickly asked as she stopped moving forward.

_You always glow to me, but I was talking about blushing, _I told her before I kissed her and released her arm in favor of holding her waist.

_I can't stop that, _she told me as I felt her lips as they moved over mine. _Have you... _Kagome started to ask me when I gave her some images to answer the question that she didn't need to finish asking me. _You forgot the chocolate, _she said as she pulled away a little.

_Chocolate?_ I asked her as I looked down into her face. My vision was only slightly pink, so it was easy for me to let her go.

_Hotels put them on the pillows after they make the bed and clean a room, _she answered. She picked up a bottle that held another soap that I wasn't as fond of, but it was her choice.

_I did not clean, _I informed her as we both started to bathe. We remained quite as we washed and helped each other with our hair. Months ago I told her how I use to do it on my own, she wasn't pleased, but she cheered up when I told her that I loved having her do it for me now. At the time I didn't say love, it was early in our relationship.

_Telling her now would be pointless,_ I told myself as I felt her fingers as she worked them down to the roots of my hair. _I've told her since then that I loved her, _I continued to justify to myself.

I now basked in the new sensation that I got from washing her hair. An activity that she only allowed me once every few days. I was very against being allowed or not allowed to do anything, which is why I changed it as quickly as I could. Every time she wanted her hair washed, I was the one that washed it. At first she only wanted to it washed every three days. I tired to wash it every night, once we are home, but some nights we got involved in other activities that were far more pressing.

Then I was given the pleasure of washing and brushing her hair in the mornings. I piled the wet strands on top of her head, and she started to rinse her neck as a sign that she knew what I was about to do. As I rubbed my cheek along her neck, I knew that it wasn't something that hard for her to figure out.

_You should finish washing my hair first, _Kagome informed me without moving. I pulled back to move my hand across her shoulder, before going up her neck and then down her spine, to well below the water line.

_Yes, I should, _told her in response. I leaned down and kissed the base of her neck, before turning my attention back to washing her hair. I didn't rush it, to make sure that they didn't get tangled, no matter how much I was looking forward to getting her into our bed.

I got out of the tub first and held her hand to make sure that she didn't slip on the wet steps. I considered it rather unlikely, but this was a small action to prevent something that was a rather undesirable event. We then slightly parted ways once we were both on level ground. We found our robes, we wrapped our hair in a towel and we walked into the bedroom to prepare for bed in more ways than one.

I smiled on the inside to myself once again as I heard Kagome humming to herself. It was a nice backdrop to my automatic routine of drying and brushing my hair that I've done for hundreds of years now.

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I looked into the polished mirror as I now combed through my dry hair. I missed having my hair dryer years ago, so it wasn't a big deal now. I even liked the quietness that I got from having to towel dry my hair. I pulled my hair back and held it in one hand as I placed my bush down, on the dressing that Sesshomaru had made for me, and picked up a black scrunchy to help keep my hair together until we woke up tomorrow.

I continued to hum as I made my way over to my side of my bed. I speared a glance in Sesshomaru's direction to see if he was finished with brushing his hair yet. It looked like he was almost done and I smiled at my timing. I picked up the little bottle that was sitting on my pillow, that he had placed there before we went down to dinner, and shook it before I uncorked it. I drank it down in one go and closed my eyes as I felt my bones and body grow.

_I'm just in time,_ Sesshomaru spoke as I felt something soft moving up my leg as his arms encircled me.

_Darn. I wanted to catch you this time, _I half pouted as he kissed my neck.

_You are still a few hundred years too young to do that yet, _he explained as I his tail dealt with getting rid of my robe. As I leaned back onto his chest while he dropped my robe off somewhere, I felt that he had already ditched his robe. If my eyes weren't already closed, I would have closed them just to enjoy the feel of his strong chest on my back. Then the heat of his skin moved down my body the more we came into contact.

"Ah," I lightly exclaimed out loud as I was hit with the sensation that Sesshomaru received as I pressed back against his growing penis. I blushed slightly at the thought, but at the same time I pressed back at bit more as I felt the length of it as it grew down beyond my behind. I liked how that felt, and I loved how it made him feel.

As I started to rock off and on to him so I could feel what he was feeling, I felt his large hands as they took a firm hold on my waist as he moved us every to slightly so I could feel him as he positioned himself in the center of my body. I started my rocking again as I placed my hands over his. I shook a little as I heard him growled a little inside my head.

My hands moved with his as he slid them around to my tummy then up over my ribcage to cup my breasts. My mouth opened as I felt his fingers rubbing over my nipples, but I suppressed the moan that soon exited Sesshomaru's mouth that was just over my head. He wanted me to move.

I saw what he wanted, and moved forward unto the bed with him staying close behind me. As I crawled I felt his legs behind and to the side of my own. When I reached the center of the bed I stop and enjoyed Sesshomaru's movements as he now rocked himself between my thighs. I was easily reminded of when we were at the hot springs together and all the bottles were at the house. We thought that we were just going …

_Turn over,_ Sesshomaru said as he cut off of the memory. I almost didn't want to since that would put and end to what I was currently feeling. _I want to see your face, _he said to persuade me. I laid my body down and stretched out my legs and arms between his before I turned to look up into his face. There were his eyes. Red with lust like the rest of his body that had changed to a more striking version of itself as I felt his need as it started to mix and over flow with mine.

I reached up with my fingers to trace them against his face makings as they traveled back into his hair line. As I buried them in the abundance of white softness I pulled his face downwards to have his lips catch mine setting my insides on fire again. I moaned into his mouth this time and his growl moved into my body in return. Sesshomaru's arms stayed braced on either side of my face as we continued to kiss as I felt his legs and knees as they moved my legs apart.

I moved one of my hands down from his head, over the very heated skin of his shoulder, chest, and stomach before I felt the trial of fine hairs as I neared where I was going. We both gasped at the same time as I took a hold of him, the best that I could, and slid my hand up and down his hard and growing flesh. We finished each other's gasp as I moved my hand from the base to the tip, the way he liked again and again. As my stomach wobbled with ecstasy I had to admit that I liked it too.

Sesshomaru surprised me as he hungrily captured my lips as he also pressed his chest down unto mine. The rest of me froze before I started to kiss him in return. My grip had stalled and squeezed on the top end of his flesh which caused him to growl from a deeper place as I kept my hand there and continued to slowly increase my grip.

_In, _Sesshomaru told me. _In you, _he said again as I felt him started to rock in my hand. His tongue continued to lick to the inside of my mouth and play with my shorter tongue as I felt my heart as it started to speed up again. _I have to be inside of you, _he conveyed to me in an urgent way before he caught my tongue and sucked on it as he pushed his hips down a little more.

I spread my legs wider before I moved my other hand down to help my first as I lined us up. I opened my eyes as I felt him let go of my lips and tongue. I looked up and saw his hair as it moved down out of my sight letting me see the celling as I continued to guild him to my opening that now felt a need to be filled.

I felt as the tip of him came into contact with me and I realized that I was far wetter than I thought I was. Sesshomaru hissed against my skin before he jerked forward. His lips covered my left breast and he sucked and licked at the nipple in his mouth as he dutifully impaled himself into me. I arched up to him to help the process move along faster. As he bottomed out I felt a moan that he didn't speak. My whole body shivered as I was drawn nearer to our orgasm.

That is what it had become since we marked each other. It wasn't just his and mine anymore. It was now ours. I started to rock first and on my second waist movement, Sesshomaru joined me. I moved my hand and arms to his back. My legs gripped his thigh and waist as his arms moved under my body as he held up my back and neck.

"Aahhh..." came out of my mouth. I couldn't hold it in anymore. My old habit of talking took over as the feeling started to spread. Sesshomaru felt it too and picked up the pace. He kissed my breast one last time before he moved back up to my neck. I felt his hot breath as it move across my skin. His teeth glided along my skin as he continued to move his face higher. His thoughts flooded my mind as well as the sensations he was feeling from our coupling.

"Ohhh," I moaned as I pressed my head back into the bed. I felt his tail as it wound itself along the length of my left arm.

_So close,_ we both said at the same time.

_Aahhh, more, _Sesshomaru said as I clutched his hair.

"Yes!" I shouted out loud as we started to tumble. I went first, but I felt him close behind. Even as I now froze in his tight grip, he continued to move in an out of me causing my mind to continue spinning in the new world that it found itself. Sesshomaru was running on instinct now. I felt his in control and logical mind missing at this moment. What was over me was my demon lover with his driving need. The pleasure of sex was something that continued to fuel his drive. I felt it too, but I couldn't match his thrusts and just held on as I came with him again and again and again.


	87. Chapter 87

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - = Means that the POV has changed.

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Chapter 87

"Two more days," I heard Miroku say.

"Three more days," I corrected him.

"The mating is on the third day, but it's two days away," he insisted. I gave up on the none argument as I went back to concentrating on this hand that dipped down past my waist before coming back up to my navel. A few times he got close to touching the base of my cock.

This was a nice lull until we really started again. We had already done it twice with both of us having a turn at coming in the other. I closed my eyes as Miroku's fingers came so close this time. The feel of his nails as they scratched their way through the hair that was so close to my base, was starting to really get to me. I now felt as my cock pushed up against the sheet that only partly covered each of us in a different way.

As much as I wanted to fuck Miroku again, I was a little concerned that I went a bit longer than I should have the first time. I stretched out a leg as his fingers passed the boundary of lap and cock. His fingers were still slow as he slid his nails back up to my waist. I turned my head to the side and saw him looking at me with a smile on his face.

"Are you ready again?" I asked him with a thick voice. At this he moved forward and kissed me as his hand went all the way down my cock to move back and forth over the shaft. I moaned up into Miroku's mouth and he swallowed it as he fought with my tongue. I now had a hard problem that I needed to fix. "I think I should work on healing you," I told him as I ended the kiss.

He looked at me for a moment before showing his comprehension as he pumped his hand a little tighter and faster causing me to close my eyes.

"How would you like me?" he asked a few delightful moments later.

"Across my chest," I informed him. There was a quick moment of seeing his eyes almost go drunk with my answer before he moved to reposition himself. It didn't escape me that he loved this almost as much as getting fucked. He was soon seated across my chest with is ass facing me. I saw his closed hole before me with a few dried bits of our cum still on his skin. I would like to say it was mine, but I wasn't sure. It wasn't like it was dipping out of him like before.

I placed my hands on this hips and he moved backwards, closer to my face, on his own. Now his hole had opened up a little and there was still some cum clinging to him on the inside. I bent my head and licked along the path between his cheeks before I circled his open opening. I felt Miroku as he laid down a bit more across my body which caused me to feel his own cock as it started to get hard again. His hand still moved up and down my cock, but it was a bit slower than before and he stopped completely when I flicked my tongue over his hole as it puckered as if he was trying to catch me. After doing this a few times I had mercy on him and slowly snaked and push my tongue into him.

"Aaahhh..." I felt Miroku moan past the base of my cock before he started to move his hand again. His breath got hotter the closer he brought his mouth to the part of me his hand was moving over faster, every time I brushed over that spot inside of him. It was as I felt the hot wetness as it slid down from my chest from him, that I decided it was time to really go for it.

I held on to his hips a little harder and pulled him back a bit more so my lips were pressed up unto his skin so I could reach as far as I could, and to reach as far as I did before with what he was currently working on. I felt as Miroku pushed back against my hands and mouth. When I stopped him he leaned forward and rotated his cock down on to me before pushing back against again.

"AAAahhhhh..." I groaned into his body as I withdrew my tongue. I felt his mouth sliding down over me. Covering me in heat and wetness before he added the pressure of his tongue, or was that just him sucking? I wasn't sure, I just knew it felt great. I felt his arms as they pressed down at the top of my thighs. Miroku continued to move his hand up and down as he now sucked on the top. I knew for sure he was sucking now. Once in a while he would rub his tongue against the underside as he bobbed his head up and down.

When he did that, I rewarded him with bathing that spot in him with my own tongue to show him that I gave a good as I got. As he writhed down onto my body, it made me think I was doing a damn good job. At least that was until I felt him move over my cock and lick my sacks. As he sucked one in, I curled my toes. I bent my head back as he rolled it around his mouth with the aid of his tongue. I almost came, but I wasn't willing to let him win yet.

I made myself think about making him quiver in my hands. I licked along the path between his cheeks again, but as I moved over his hole, I slowed down and wiggled my way across it.

"Oohh," Miroku moaned as he pulled his mouth off of me. I did it again without any hint that I would enter him. Right after my third pass, he pressed down unto his cock hard before pushing himself back into my face for more.

"I hope you are ready," I warned him. Miroku just pushed his ass back some more before sliding me all the way back into his mouth. I felt my fingers as they massaged his flesh that was under my hands as I thought about how much longer I would be able to last. I didn't think it would be long so I would have to work fast. I moved in and traveled down the path again, but as I got to his opening I went in. I pushed in one time and went right to his spot.

I didn't move from that spot. I lapped and pushed and slid over it as I heard him moan and shout a number of things as he continued to move his fist up and down my cock. I swear he even moved faster causing me to be pushed over the edge and I knew I took him with me when I felt him squirt, shake and tighten around me.

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_You seem to be in lighter sprites, _I told Kagome as we walked down the stars to breakfast.

_Of course,_ she answered me. _I know I'll be able to help Kohaku now._

_Is the Demon Slayer, Sango, _I corrected myself, _that good of a friend to you? _I inquired.

_Do you have any friends?_ my love asked me instead. I mentally paused as I thought it over. I stopped us from moving forward as we got the bottom of the stairs.

_How do you label someone your friend? _I asked her as I walked with her to the dinning room. I saw blankness at this inquiry, before her mind was flooded with images that seem to span the length of most of her life. When I stopped trying to concentrate on what each one was completely made up of, I started to understand what I was being shown. But it was more of being able to see then being shown. I didn't believe that Kagome was doing this consciously.

_I think, _she started to tell me. _That a friend, is someone that you want to see and spend time with. _

_Like you? _I asked her as we stopped in front of the room that was currently being used as a dinning room.

_Someone you want to talk to and help out, or do stuff for, _she continued.

_You are still the only one that comes to mind, _I reiterated as I leaned closer and kissed her forehead.

_Someone that you don't want to sleep with, _she enlightened me. I paused yet again.

_I'll let you know after our meal, _I informed her before opening the door and letting her walk inside first, into a room already filled with a number of demons and three humans.

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"Where is Kagome going off to?" Inuyasha asked me as he came to stand next to me. I was standing just outside looking at Kagome as she walked down the path that lead down to the gate which would eventually lead her to town where she would seek out he true detestation.

"Masami-sama's," I told him without turning my head.

"Why is she going there?" he asked before he thought of something else. "Is she sick?" Inuyasha now asked me. I looked around and saw that Katsu-teichou was indeed shadowing her like I told him to at the end of his report this morning.

"If Kagome was ill I wouldn't let her walk there alone?" I pointed out to him as I turned to look in his direction. A look took over his face, that made me realize that I had said far more with that one statement, than I've said to him in weeks.

"I saw Katsu-teichou, but I know what you mean," Inuyasha told me with that look of subdued surprise still on his face. I turned back to look at Kagome and saw that she had now reached the gate and was waving to someone on the outside. I checked again to see where Katsu-teichou was. He was standing on the wall as he looked at her and who ever it was she had walked on to talk to behind the wall.

"Come with me," I told Inuyasha as I moved back inside. If he had time to stand outside with me, he had time to work.

"Where are you taking me?" he asked me as he followed without knowing why. I said nothing. I felt that would help even out the slip from either. I knew that if Kagome was there, she wouldn't have considered it a slip I should have to make up for.

"_Do you have any friends?" _I remembered her asking me. I went over everyone that I could think of that came anywhere near the required list, of what a friend was, that Kagome had given me. The list was very short. In fact, by the time the meal was over, there was one boy that I known when I was a mere twelve springs old, that I had never seen again, and Inuyasha.

Granted, he wasn't a perfect match, but neither was that that other boy, but both held the possibility of those things to have happened between the two of us. The difference between then and now, was that I had lived a life without friends and found it hard to depend on anyone for anything. I stopped outside of my library and looked at Inuyasha as he came to a stop next to me.

"With the head of ruling home here, I thought that it would be wise to get some issues out of the way," I informed him. I watched as he hung his head and his over all posture slouched.

"You want me to help with ruling business don't you?" he asked. I knew he knew that, so it didn't require me to actually say anything. "Why are you doing this to me?" Inuyasha now asked as he looked up at me. I thought about telling him it was because I wanted his help, but I instantly denied actually telling him this.

"You are my brother," I told him as I turned my attention to the door and opened it to a room full of people and the conference table that had been pulled out of storage.

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"We will continue this tomorrow morning," Sesshomaru said as he stood. I stood with him to show how much I agreed with him. Hours. We had been at this for hours. The idea wasn't a bad one since everyone involved in the arguments that had to be settled were here. I now understand why Sesshomaru doesn't say much. It's from keeping his cool in situations like this. My fingers grazed over a few rough edges and I looked down to see what they were.

They appeared to be claw marks. I coved them over with my sleeve since I must have made them, because they weren't there when I sat down. After everyone agreed, some very reluctantly, we bowed and they left the room. I saw a tree in one of the gardens with a great view into the forest on the south side of the property. I was itching to spend the next hour sitting there before I had to meet with these demons again over lunch.

"Inuyasha," Sesshomaru said, stopping me as I was about to move from his side. I turned to look at him but I didn't sit back down like he did.

"Yes," I answered him.

"Kagome mentioned something about us going to Tōtōsai's. Do you know anything about it?" he asked me. I sat back down.

"Tōtōsai?" I asked him instead. He didn't move. He could at least have nodded or something. I thought about it for a moment. "Well we were going to see him one time when Myoga said something about how he was one that made the sword out of father's fang, that he may be able to help me use it better and that there were some stuff that he had to past on to me about it," I told him. I reached up and scratched my head a bit before I looked in his direction. "But we forgot about it after you got hurt and we just went back to gathering the shards. Besides, I don't need to know that stuff," I explained. "You showed me how to use the sword better and we already killed Naraku," I ended.

"Why would I be going with you?" he asked. I shrugged my shoulders.

"To help maybe," I told him all honestly. "I've pummeled that old man enough times when he didn't give me straight answer. Maybe she wants you along so I don't kill him this time."

"And how would I stop you?" he asked with a straight face. I raised an eyebrow and looked at him. _How? Did he honestly ask me how? I landed a few hits on him in practice, be if he wanted to, he could still cripple me if he wanted to. _"True, I have gotten really good in my combat skills," I said just to see what he would, but he didn't say anything. "Maybe she wants you there to make sure I understand that the old geezer has to tell me," I said almost in a huff. I couldn't get a rise out of him. I liked it when he showed how much he was worried about Kagome before.

I sat with my arms crossed as I looked at the door I wanted to leave through to find that tree. I glance back at Sesshomaru and saw him looking somewhere else other than me, as he thought about some thing. I waited some more. As I started to think that he was going to keep me here for the whole hour, I turned to asked him what he was thinking.

"Considering the upcoming events," he started. "We will leave to see Tōtōsai a week after you have returned from your honeymoon," he informs me. _Ok, _my mind agreed.

"Is that it?" I asked him.

"Yes," he answered. He then got up and left the room. In fact, he moved almost as fast I wanted to.


	88. Chapter 88

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* 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 = Means that it's the same POV just a shift in time.

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Chapter 88

"You are doing quite well," Masmi told me. I wasn't all that sure as I wiped sweat from my forehead again. I thought after last night, that this was going to be easy. I would show up, surprise Masami-sama, heal Kohaku after about twenty or so minutes, and then walk him back in time for lunch. In stead, Masami-sama easily reasoned out as to why I was to able to just glow. I was actually emitting a purify light is what she told me once I showed her.

She said it was because I was drinking so much of Sesshomaru's blood. It made it easier for me access the power that I already had. Leaning how to control it was where it got hard. It was like I was trying to reach out and hold somethings I couldn't see and then steer all of it towards Kohaku, but most at the shards, that I saw in the back of of his neck, to hopefully heal him faster.

So far, it didn't look like I was making him worst. He looked close to death when I first saw him. I hadn't seen him at all since he had been at Masami-sama's, but I knew he was in bad way, but I didn't expect him to look like he was already dead. The only thing that let me know that he was still alive was the slight rise and fall of his chest as he took shallow breaths.

It almost looked as if his blood had been drained when I saw him first. Now, it was closer to a light blue with some red blotches. We both took this as a sign that he was getting better. As I started to stand, Kohaku mumbled something in a very quite voice. I didn't understand what he said, but Masami patted my shoulder and motioned me to follow her.

"What did Kohaku say?" I asked her as she closed the door on his room and we started to walk toward the stairs. She took her time in telling me what it was.

"Yes, Naroku," Masami-sama said. I stood still before taking a step back from her. I did not know where that came from, but I was more than prepared to use my glow on her if she was possessed or something. "That is what Kohaku-chan said a moment ago," she explained as she looked at me a little oddly. As I let out a breath, I realized that with the limited access I had to this hidden power of mine, I wasn't even a match for her if she really wanted to hurt me.

"Sorry," I told her and I came to stand at her side again. "Hearing you say his name brought back some bad memories for me," I told her. She smiled kindly at me before we started to walk again. She had a slight lead as we walked along the narrow first floor hallway until she stopped us at the only other room I knew in her home. I guess the hallways were a normal size for this kind of home, but they were about half the size of the ones in Sesshomaru's home. She opened the door and allowed me to enter the room first.

We were just sitting down when the door opened again. I looked back, since I had chosen to sit facing the wall that lead out into the garden, to see who it was. I turned back to facing Masami-sama when I saw that it was her servant girl. She placed the cold looking jug on the table along with a tea pot that didn't look cold in the least.

"Would you like something Kagome-kyou?" she asked me. I turned and look at the containers again. If I wasn't a little warm, I would have picked the tea without thinking about, but since I was, I thought that maybe the better choice would be the water.

_I'm here to take you home,_ I heard as I was about to ask for the cold water. It might have still been a little cool outside, but I'm sure I was cutting it late for getting back in time for lunch.

"I'll have a cup of water and Sesshomaru-sama will have a cup of tea," I told the girl. She looked from me to Masami-sama to make sure that something wasn't wrong since she only saw the two of us in the room with her. Masami-sama nodded her head very slightly at her. She then poured what I asked for. Masami-sama then denied getting anything herself.

I placed the cup of hot tea in front of the seat next to me and took a sip from my own. The cold water felt nice as it went down my throat. I waited for her to say something or for Sesshomaru to show up to say something, but it stayed quite for a while. Masami-sama seemed to have realized that I was waiting for Sesshomaru so she made no move to see me out.

"Do you want me to come back after lunch?" I asked her. It was the only thing I could think of at the moment to say, or ask as the case turned out.

"No, only in the mornings for now," she answered me. "You made good progress, but besides finding out that it was easier for you to reach the power in you than we first thought, and that it does seem to be helping Kohaku-chan, we don't know how tired you will be even after having your noon time meal," she continued. "We will see how this effects you for a few more days before we try doing it for most of the day," she ended before I saw her tilt her head a bit and look into the garden with out really looking.

_Are you ready to leave? _Sesshomaru asked me as I saw him land in the garden at that moment. I smiled.

_Yes, I think I'm ready, but I have some tea here for you,_ I informed him.

_Thank you hatsukoi, but I won't be staying. I just came to collect you, _he replayed.

_As you wish dear, _I told him before turning to smile at Masami-sama.

"Then I'll see you tomorrow morning then," I told her as I started to stand. "You don't have to get up," I told her when I started to move. "I'm sorry about the tea," I said with a small apologetic smile, as I walked around the table. "I'll just see myself out," I told her before bowing and leaving the room via the opening out into the garden.

I watched the trees that started to become slightly green again as I made my way over to Sesshomaru.

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_I'll be back in time for the ceremony,_ I told Sesshomaru as he walked me back to our home. I didn't ask him to come for me, but for the second day in a row there he was. Showing up just before lunch time. The first time was a nice surprise, but I can walk through a village by myself.

_No you can't, _Sesshomaru corrected me. _You are to be my mate. You may be safer among the villagers, but I know of a few … creatures who would see you as an easy target, _he ended.

_Who would try anything with all these people around? _I asked him thinking he was being overly protective.

_Actually, all the extra people would help them move around without being seen or noticed easily, _he told me. I didn't want to, but I now looked around to see if saw anyone I didn't really know or hadn't meet yet.

_Don't smirk, _I told him when I felt this funny feeling that felt like it was a little self righteous. We walked a bit more and soon saw the camps outside our homes. _Will you coming to get me tomorrow also? _ I decided to ask. He may actually be busy on the day of Inuyasha's mating.

_No, I won't be busy. I will be here again tomorrow, _he answered. He still sounded smug. I turned to look at him, but he held on to his aloft looking mask well. He continued to look straight ahead but I saw something before I just gave in. It wasn't that bad and I didn't mind that much and he must know more about his enemies than I did. I didn't even know that he really had any to begin with.

_How many... _I stopped myself. _Thank you for coming to pick me up._ I told him as I reached over and held on to his arm.

_You are welcomed, _he told me a moment later.

_I'm safe with you anywhere right?_ I asked him knowing what he would say.

_Of course, _his pride made him say.

_Do you think we can walk the temple grounds tonight? _I asked him.

_Are you homesick Kagome? _he asked me.

_A little, but not enough to go back for a few hours, _I confessed.

_At what time? _he asked me. Instead of answering I adjusted my hands on his arm and waved to a few people as we walked by. I just sent him images of the two of us walking around some random temple, that I pulled out of my memory, at night time with no one there to disturb us. It was like we were the only one there. I smile at myself when I felt his arm get a little tense and then relax.

_Is that a good time for you? _I asked him. I felt his tail as he now looped it over my shoulder. As I stroked it, I took this as a yes to my question. I waved over at one of the boys that had asked me the day before if it would have been possible to meet with Sesshomaru. I told him that the next time Sesshomaru walked me back home, I'll make sure to introduce him. Well today was he lucky day. I smiled as I steered him off our path home and towards a boy who's eyes beamed from how honored and impressed he was at meeting my mates-to-be.

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"So how are you liking your room?" Rin asked me as we walked back to our rooms after dinner.

"It's ok. It's just a bedroom," I answered her. I was looking down at her now. I see how sharing her bed would have been harder now. If I stretched really hard, my feet and hands would touch each end of my bed now. We walked some more at our slow place, "Did you get your kimono from the tailors yet?" I asked her.

"Yeah, I got it," she said sounding a little down.

"What wrong" I asked her.

"Nothing," she now said brightly as she turned a smiling face up towards me. "What about yours?" she then asked. "Did the tailors deliver it yet?" she added on.

"Nope," I said as I placed both hands behind my head and continued to walk.

"How come?" I made her asked me.

"They want to do a last minute fitting to make sure that I didn't grow again," I explained.

"Oh," was all she said for a bit. "Did you grow again?" she asked a few steps after turning a corner.

"I don't think so. At least not much if at all," I answered her.

"Can I come with you?" she then asked. "I don't have any classes tomorrow," she said to show how board she would be.

"Sure," I told her. "It would be nice to have someone there who I can talk to," I said.

"Don't you talk to the tailors?" she asked.

"About what? How long my arm now is?" I asked her.

"Hahaha. No," she laughed. "Kisho always told me stories about his children," she explains.

"He has cubs?" I asked her slightly surprised. "I didn't even know that he was mated. But I guess he would be. He is kinda old," I reasoned out loud.

"He's six hundred and thirty two," she promptly told me.

"This year?" I asked her. She looked up at the celling as she continued to walk and think about it.

"He is six hundred and thirty two this year until late in the summer when he turns six hundred and thirty three," she said as we started to near our rooms.

"So I guess he has a lot of cubs then," I told her.

"Yeah, six," she told me. I stood still as we got to her door.

"Only six?" I asked as I turned to face her.

"Six is a lot," she told. "There is only the two of us here. How busy would you think it would get if there were four other kids around here?" she asked me. I thought about it. I had heard of families having eight and nine kids, so six didn't sound like that much, but it was just me and my dad most of the time until I was here in Inuyasha's group, and I was still the only young.

"Night Shippo," Rin said as she started to open her door.

"Night Rin," I told her. "Oh," I said as I remembered something. She stopped walking to look back at me. "I'm going to the tailors after breakfast," I told her.

"Ok," she told me with a smile before walking into her room and closing the door.

"So how are you liking your room?" Rin asked me as we walked back to our rooms after dinner.

"It's ok. It's just a bedroom," I answered her. I was looking down at her now. I see how sharing her bed would have been harder now. If I stretched really hard, my feet and hands would touch each end of my bed now. We walked some more at our slow place, "Did you get your kimono from the tailors yet?" I asked her.

"Yeah, I got it," she said sounding a little down.

"What wrong" I asked her.

"Nothing," she now said brightly as she turned a smiling face up towards me. "What about yours?" she then asked. "Did the tailors deliver it yet?" she added on.

"Nope," I said as I placed both hands behind my head and continued to walk.

"How come?" I made her asked me.

"They want to do a last minute fitting to make sure that I didn't grow again," I explained.

"Oh," was all she said for a bit. "Did you grow again?" she asked a few steps after turning a corner.

"I don't think so. At least not much if at all," I answered her.

"Can I come with you?" she then asked. "I don't have any classes tomorrow," she said to show how board she would be.

"Sure," I told her. "It would be nice to have someone there who I can talk to," I said.

"Don't you talk to the tailors?" she asked.

"About what? How long my arm now is?" I asked her.

"Hahaha. No," she laughed. "Kisho always told me stories about his children," she explains.

"He has cubs?" I asked her slightly surprised. "I didn't even know that he was mated. But I guess he would be. He is kinda old," I reasoned out loud.

"He's six hundred and thirty two," she promptly told me.

"This year?" I asked her. She looked up at the celling as she continued to walk and think about it.

"He is six hundred and thirty two this year until late in the summer when he turns six hundred and thirty three," she said as we started to near our rooms.

"So I guess he has a lot of cubs then," I told her.

"Yeah, six," she told me. I stood still as we got to her door.

"Only six?" I asked as I turned to face her.

"Six is a lot," she told. "There is only the two of us here. How busy would you think it would get if there were four other kids around here?" she asked me. I thought about it. I had heard of families having eight and nine kids, so six didn't sound like that much, but it was just me and my dad most of the time until I was here in Inuyasha's group, and I was still the only young.

"Night Shippo," Rin said as she started to open her door.

"Night Rin," I told her. "Oh," I said as I remembered something. She stopped walking to look back at me. "I'm going to the tailors after breakfast," I told her.

"Ok," she told me with a smile before walking into her room and closing the door.

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"It's tomorrow," I whispered into his ear. He held me a little close and kissed my neck. I moved some of his black strands aside and did the same to his.

"Did you think we would get matted when you started to keep your journal?" Miroku asked me.

"I hopped it would reach this point, this event," I told him as I pulled back to look into his gorgeous eyes. I looked down his noise and over his lips before I came back up to his eyes.

"I'm looking forward to having some real claim on you," he tells me before he kisses me. I enjoyed it, and pressed for more, but not too much. I just wanted him near and to have clear moments for me to enjoy the knowledge that we will be really starting our mating ceremony tomorrow. I know that it already started nine days ago officially, but now we got to tell everyone and make it really official.

"Are you thinking of how I would look as a hanyou?" Miroku asked me as I moved a finger over his face.

"I am now," I admitted with a grin.

"Do you think we will change on the same night?" he now asked.

"I'm really looking forward to finding out in person," I told him as I leaned in for another kiss.

"Me too," he said against my lips before he pulled me in for a harder kiss. We pressed our bodies together and I felt as one of his legs moved in between mine. I felt him starting to pull back and I let him. "Don't leave too many bruises," he tells me with a smile. "I'm spending all afternoon at the tailors. You won't even see me after lunch until we meet at the temple to get mated," he informs me. I nodded as remembered what he told me earlier when he received a message from Kisho. I think he was up to something since I didn't get such a note from the old man also.

"I wasn't planing on doing much tonight," I informed him as I started to move in again.

"Well I was," he tells me as he holds me tighter and raises his leg up the inside of mine. With my eyes close and my tongue rubbing his, I paused to growl into his mouth and enjoy the feel of him and he shook in my arms.


	89. Chapter 89

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Chapter 89

I was pleased that Kagome and I had taken a walk around the temple grounds the night before. It looked a little different in day light, but it helped me stay clam on the inside with all the activity that I was now witnessing which required some participation from us. Today everyone wore their finest. Anything that told you of their rank, family line, or past glories were worn along with robes that were fine enough to put an end to any rumors that their coffers were running low. I stood at the entrance to the temple with Kagome on my right, and Haha-ue on my left, as we greeted everyone entering the building.

The last dignitary walked in with his own mate at his side. They were among some of the younger head of households that had been staying at my home for the last few days. As they made their way deeper into the cool building, I heard Katsu as he spread the command that the villagers could now be allowed to enter the temple, as well as send some of his men into the temple to keep them an acceptable distance away from the other guests.

_Once Aoshima Yukio come to our temple for New Year's prayers. I didn't think he had this much security and he's the governor of Tokyo, _Kagome informed me before she pulled away. I looked down to see the little girl pulling at her sleeve, that I saw her mind a few moments before.

"I'm sorry my lord," a ningen lady, a few years older Kagome directed at me as she wrapped her arms around the child and lifted her up unto her hip. She wasn't as splendidly dressed as the people already in side, but I saw it was of good quality and would have cost her a great deal to have made. "My ladies," she now said to Kagome and my Haha-ue with a slight bow.

"It's ok," my hatsukoi told her. I looked at the young one and she looked at me before she turned her head to look at Kagome again. I didn't have to openly gaze at her myself to know that she was stunning. I wore the outfit that marked me as the head of my household and lord of these lands. Kagome wore the female version that I hadn't seen in years. Not since a year before my Haha-ue left. She was awash in white with red sakura blossoms scattered all over with the ends of her sleeves starting out red and changing into the red flowers before they gave over to the pure white fabric. Haha-ue was left to her own means at to what to wear and wore something that was rather befitting of her rank and showed that she still belong to my household with a symbolic cherry blossom or two in a few prominent places.

I did not wear my armor today and the three of us wore an appropriate sized obi for our outfits that was a deep purple and embossed with more sakura blossoms for the occasion. As did the young fox and Rin. The two of them had been the first to be seated since all of us were seated in the front row, and they weren't needed to help greet the guest.

"And what is your name?" Kagome asked the little girl.

"Mika, my lady," the little girl said. I caught the look of pride on the mother's face as she said this.

"That is a very pretty name. I hope you like the wedding," she continued to say as others walked behind of them, stopping to bow in our direction before they were pleasantly greeted by my Haha-ue as they entered the temple.

"I will," the little girl said before her mother bowed at the three of again.

"Thank you my lord," the lady said before walking in also. My eyes followed them and saw that the room was almost completely full now.

_Come Kagome,_ I told her as I placed a hand on her shoulder before walking in front of her and Haha-ue, through the parted crowd until we were passing through the higher classes as they sat on the large stock of purple trimmed cushions that had a number of purple designs on them. They didn't need to have the sakura design on them, but a few did.

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I stood in from of three large polished surfaces as the tailors still moved about me putting on finishing touches but mostly fussing with air as far as I could see. Every time they put something on me that required me to move my hair, they would brush it back into place before looking me over to see if they had achieved what they wanted. If it didn't, then they would take it off to fix it while someone stayed behind to brush my hair again. When that piece was brought back and I was wearing it again, I didn't see a difference.

I did not think that it would have taken this long, but I should have known better. I knew Kisho and his quest for perfection. That is one of the reasons why I didn't look forward to having to go through this again, but this was my mating day. This was never going to happen again. I saw how he was just beyond pleased to be told that he was going to be designing our montsuki.

"Hey Miroku," I called over the partition that separated us from seeing each other.

"Yes Inuyasha," he called back.

"Are you finished over there?" I asked knowing that he had been here hours before me. I heard some whispering, but they were careful to keep it really quite so I only picked up bits and pieces before someone walked up to me and started to tie an obi around my hamaka.

"Almost," he said. "But don't worry," he continued. "They have to have us both finished at the same time, so we can walk out together," he reassures me. _What did he have to reassure me about?_ I wasn't sure, but at least I knew that I wouldn't have to keep this on any longer than I had to.

I turned back to looking at my refection, times three, as this tailor now steps back to look at what he just did with the tying of the obi at the front of my hamaka. I had to admit that for all this fuss I did strike a rather handsome image. My hair that hadn't been in the wild for months now, and along with regular washing and brushing it could almost rival Sesshomaru's for being the shiniest and it was now well below my waist. My hair had been pulled back to the middle of my head and collected into three hair ribbons. Purple at the top, an off white one in the middle so it didn't blend into my hair and a bottom one was coloured blood red.

That happed to have been the number of layers that I was wearing also. An outer layer of the purple that had the two kamons of sakuras, and not the embossed fabric that Sesshomaru had lead me to believe I would have been wearing. Then there was a white layer under that, before we got to the lightest of the three layers that was all red. It may or may not have been the lightest, but it felt that way until I was wearing the other two and the purple hakama.

"This is the last piece Inuyasha-sama," Kisho said as he came over and attached the beads that went from from under one kamon to the other. When he stepped back I saw that they were the beads, minus the teeth shaped white ones, that I use to wear before. _I guess Miroku found a use for them after all. _

"How do you like it my lord?" Kisho asked me when he was finished. I knew it meant a lot tot him and he did a good job, so I told him the truth.

"You did a great job Kisho," I told him. "It looks like all the fuss was worth it," I said as I turned from the mirror and looked at him. He couldn't have looked any happier I think.

"Thank you Inuyasha-sama. Thank you so much for your gracious words," he said as he deeply bowed.

"I will attend to Miroku-sama and you will be able to be mated in a few moments," he said before backing up and walking around the partition that I wasn't allowed to see behind. I wiggled my toes on the floor for the last time before I signaled to the boy holding my shoes to come closer. I hated the idea, but they both made me promise to wear them.

I had started to wear a different kind when the guests showed up and it took me a while to get use to them, kinda, but I still didn't like them on principal. I didn't need them.

"**And you think that I do?"**Sesshomaru had asked me when I brought up that point. He admitted it was too early for me to wear closed shoes like he did, but I had to wear something while staying there.

"Thank you Kisho," I heard Miroku say from his side of the room. "It looks better than I thought it would," he continued.

"I'm honored by your words Miroku-sama," I heard Kisho just about weep over that. "This way my lord." I heard him say and thought that I was now about to see Miroku walk through the opening into my side of the room. It took a while, but when someone appeared it wasn't Miroku. It was Kisho.

"Where is Miroku?" I asked him.

"He's already left my lord," he said with a smile not seeing anything wrong with what was going on. "This way my lord," he now tells me as he extends his arms in the direction he wanted me to walk.

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_Here they are, _Sesshomaru told me and I looked from one opening to the next to see which one had arrived first. It was Miroku.

_What is he wearing? _I couldn't stop myself from asking.

_I think he was trying to mix a montsuki with an uchikake, _Sesshomaru explained. I could see bits of each, but they were put together in such a way, it was something altogether new and didn't look very feminine at all, which was a very good thing. Miroku kinda looked handsome if I thought about it. Now that I knew he wasn't a leach.

_Handsome? _Sesshomaru questioned me.

_For a human,_ I tried to explain, but since I was also human, I didn't think that cut it. _You are the standard that I hold every other guy to, and handsome justs get them in the room with you. You will never have anything to worry about, _I told him at the end to make sure my point got across before I looked at Miroku again.

He was still standing there looking straight ahead as he waited for Inuyasha to appear across the room in his own door way.

_I was not asking Kagome, I was agreeing with you,_ Sesshomaru told me. I didn't know what to say to that. He could just have recognized him as looking handsome like girls tell other girls they look pretty. _Right?_

I wanted to turn to look at him, but I looked where Miroku was looking and saw as Inuyasha appeared and looked over the room first before his eyes fell on Miroku across the platform and on the other side of the room. There was complete shock on his face before he looked pleased and then happy at what he was seeing.

_I see that Miroku likes to surprise Inuyasha, _I heard Sesshomaru's mother tell both of us. I had gotten use to hearing her in there every now and again, so it wasn't so jarring to hear it now, but I was still disappointed that it wasn't something that was just between Sesshomaru and myself. _At least I'll be able to lock out who I wanted once I've been turned._ I comforted myself with that piece of knowledge.

_Yes, surprises. Miroku has those, _I answered before I reached into my sleeve for something that I needed.

_**# ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ #** _

**Hatsukoi** - Puppy love, first love, in case you forgot. :)

**Aoshima, Yukio - **was a Japanese politician who served as a Governor of Tokyo Metropolitan Government from 1995 to 1999. I know it says Governor, but on the same page they call him Mayor. Go figure.

**Coffers **- A strongbox or small chest for holding valuables. Just in case you didn't know.

**Kamon** - is traditional family crests held by every Japanese family. While kamon is a very unique tradition of Japan, it is rarely known among foreigners. That is mainly because Japanese people only use their kamon only on special occasions: funeral, wedding, 7-5-3 festival, etc.


	90. Chapter 90

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Chapter 90

_What was he wearing? _I couldn't help but ask myself as I tried to understand what I was seeing. Over all that was the only thing wrong with it. I think it looked good on him. It was kinda like what I was wearing as in it had three layers, he did wear a hamaka, of a sort, and his hair was pulled back and tied like mine. But the fabrics that were use to make his clothes were the same but different than mine. They appeared softer and they seemed to have longer sleeves.

Something flickered, interrupting my line of sight. I realized that the head priest of the temple was waving me forward. I managed to look around his big belly to see to see Miroku and that he had started to walk forward also. That is when I realized that he wasn't wearing a hamaka but a few layers of formal kimonos, that were in the required colours, with a haoir like mine over them.

He had the beads that traveled from one inside point to another, but it didn't have any kamons on it. I wondered why those areas would be blank and realized that Miroku didn't have a family, so he didn't have a kamon as I also realized that the beads were also from my old necklace.

**Click.**

**Click.**

**Click.**

My ears swiveled as we took the last four or so steps toward each other to stand, looking into each other's eyes, in front of the priest. The sound was different than what our gatas made on the wooden platform. As I saw Miroku smile at me, I remembered Kagome's 'camera' and smiled back at him.

_He looks happy,_ I thought to myself as I heard the priest as he started to invite a number of ancestors that I barely remembered, if at all, and a few gods to also attend our mating. I watched as Miroku pulled his eyes from mine and looked towards the shrine. I mimicked him and then really heard the priest for the first time as he instructed us to bow to welcome them here.

I slowly got down unto my knees since I had to balance on these gatas and I didn't want to fall in front of anyone. I couldn't live something like that down. Not on my mating day. Nothing was said, but we stayed bent over for a while as I looked around for clues as to when I should get back up again. The priest tapped both of us on our shoulders and motioned for use to face each other before he clapped his hands and everyone else raised their heads.

The priest now spoke to the people in the temple. He told them who we were, as if they didn't know, and something of our past. When I realized what he was doing, I cringed on the inside as I prepared to hear a number of bad things, about the two of us. Mirkou was first and it didn't sound so bad. He said that he was a wondering monk. How he watched as his father was devoured by a curse that an evil half demon by the name of Naroku had placed on this family. The priest jumped over the parts about how he swindled a number humans out of money and a place to sleep for the night, by pretending to find evil spirits that he then exercised out of their home.

There was no talk about all his skirt chasing, which was a good thing, considering the family he was getting into by mating with me. But the priest did talk about all the evil demons that he had killed or at least help with killing while he was with us. The last thing he said about Miroku was how he joined up with my group, which really made it sound like he did kill those demons on his own.

He then went through each person in our group. Sango wasn't really talked about at all other than to say she was a female warrior that lost her brother to the evil half demon Naroku, that continued to reek havoc to that day. I hope she didn't take that too badly. I stopped myself from looking in her direction. Shippo really had the least said about him, but he was young, their wasn't much to say about him. Mostly it was how his father went down fighting like all good demons who lived in the wild and he joined up with my group to make a name for himself or something like that. Kagome was talked about more than Sango and Shippo. I think it was because it was known that she was going to be mated with Sesshomaru I think, but he soon stopped talking about her since he wasn't suppose to talk about anyone, anymore than the people who were getting mated.

When he got to me, I barely recognized it. It sounded like someone else's life. I was a lost heir? I battled my way through trials and tribulations? The part about traveling to the afterworld was right, but I didn't really think I was doing it to defensed my father's hidden grave. At least not really. It just turned out that way. At one point, despite how interested I was in hearing this story, I was starting to wonder when he was going to finish. We still our commitments to saw to each other. As nerves as I was about doing that, I had taken a big step when I presented him with his mating gift at dinner, so this shouldn't be that much harder.

When I heard the priest's version of "...a brother's blood pat to end the cursed life of the evil half demon Naroku," I realized he was nearing the end and started to think over what I was going to say to Miroku._ I did a rather good job of it_, I told myself again as I got to to the end of it in my head.

"Now we shall hear their words of commitment to each other," I heard the priest say with the same booming voice that I was momentary surprised at realizing that I had successfully managed to not hear it most of the time. "My Lord Inuyasha," he said to make it clear that I had to go first.

I bowed to him first, then to everyone who was there before I turned and bowed Miroku. I looked into his eyes for a moment before I closed and opened my own before I opened my mouth. This was one of the most important things that I will ever have to say, and I really hoped that it came across as impressive as I thought it really was.

"Almost a year ago I told you that I was in love with you. That I've stayed at your side though a lot of hard times and even stayed at your bedside when I thought it was one of the last times I was going to see you," I paused as I remembered that night. "I also told you that I didn't know what else I could do to prove to you that I do love you. I think that this is the best I can do. I want to stay at your side. I want to be with you for as long as possible. I want to keep sitting at your side when you aren't well or just tired. I want to fight with you back to back against our enemies," I paused again when I saw a small smile sneak onto his lips.

"I want a lot of happy days with you too. I want to see you happy, and I want to be the reason why. I want to love you as much as I'm capable of loving anyone and this is my commitment to you that I will try to do that for as long as we both live," I ended. My heart was pounding in my chest. I took a deep breath to calm nerves that I didn't think I had. I heard a few noises and my ears moved again. I recognized them as being sounds of a few people trying not to cry too loudly. I took that as I sign I that it was a good commitment speech after all.

"Master Miroku, you may now give your commitment speech," the priest informed all of us. Miroku did all the bowing that I did before he faced me again.

"My Inuyasha-sama," he said before pausing. "That is what I want to call you. I want to walk proud with the knowledge that you are mine and will be forever. For this privilege I will do all that is in my power to make you happy. To aid in the care of the village and lands that are under your family's protection and safekeeping. I will also never give you cause to doubt that I'm not in love with you anymore. You have owned my heart for a long time and will continue to for far longer than I am capable of comprehending at this time. All of this I promise to you now, in front of everyone here," he ended.

I felt choked up. I felt it in my throat. I felt like I should do something to show that I excepted or understood, but I knew I wouldn't be able to speak if I tried and I didn't really think that I was suppose, so I smiled and nodded in his direction and my smile grew a little more when I saw him bow back.

"We have all witnessed and heard your commitments to each other, now drink to seal your union," the priest told the two of us. He held held out a bowl of sake and we both took it. I pushed it a little towards Miroku before he took it and we both held on as he drank a little of it. When he was finished, he pushed it towards me for my turn. When I was done, we handed it back to the priest.

"In front of all who are present and past, I pronounced you mated," he declared. At first there was polite clapping coming from the closer rows of people, but pretty soon there were shouts and louder clapping coming from the back. We both smiled at each other as we stood and then turned to everyone again.

There in the back were all our friends and a some of the villagers. I knew I was beaming with pride and happiness, and I'm sure Miroku was too. I heard movement behind of me and soon everyone quited down.

"The two men before you have decided to commit themselves to each other with a turning ceremony also," the priest said loudly as if everyone else was still shouted. Or it could just have sounded that way because he was standing that close to my right ear when he said it.

"I now call upon the help of the Masami-sama to aid me in this task," he said before I heard more people start to walk up the wooden steps. "Please step back my lords," the priest now whispered to us to have us give who ever it was coming unto the platform more space to move around.

I saw Masami-sama, the girl that I always saw at her home, Amaya and two servants that she directed. We watched as a very large bowl was placed on a stand that was meant to keep it from moving around and not really to show it off. On either side they placed a large pillow for Miroku and I to sit on. Another one was placed behind the bowl also. When everything was in place, Amaya left the platform but the two servants stood behind the two pillows and Masami-sama went to stand behind the third before turning and signaling for us to come forward.

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After we had moved back to the front of the stage again, I watched as the servant moved forward and started to undress Inuyasha before the other girl stepped in front of me and started to unclasp the string of beads that held my outer coat together. Once it was off, it was folded and laid aside before she came back and took the next one off. I looked over at Inuyasha as his second layer was now removed. Soon we were both dressed in only the last red robe of both our outfits that looked a little strange with each of us missing a sleeve and the sleeve that we did have was much shorter then the ones everyone saw until now, since it only came to our elbows.

"You may now sit," Masami-sama told us and since I knew what was coming I sat crossed legged this time. I knew that Inuyasha was also going to sit that way. I was slightly surprised that he actually knelt for the first part of our mating ceremony. For the first time I looked down into the bowl and saw a few things that I didn't expect to see in there. I watched each item as she took them out and placed them at her side now that she was seated on the pillow that was placed behind the very over sized bowl.

I watched as she gave Inuyasha a few leaves to chew before she gave me an uncorked container to drink. I looked at the dark liquid inside for a moment before swallowing and giving it back to her empty. This is when I heard the priest as he started to chant. I didn't full understand what he was saying, but it mostly had something to do with moving, sharing, changing and becoming one, before he went through it again. Something that I considered to be completely appropriate for what was about to happen.

Masami-sama now held my arm, without the sleeve, and placed it into the bowl. My fingers just curved along the bottom as it laid along the inside of it. Then she placed Inuyasha's hand in the bowl and we could have held hands if she hadn't laid his next to mine also palm up. Inuyasha and I both watched her as she laid a cloth on her lap and opened it to revile a knife, a rather nice looking one really, with an amber handle. The blade itself wasn't very large and the knife as a whole was a good manageable size.

She cut Inuyasha first. It wasn't very deep but it was a long cut. She started just from below his inner elbow and stopped just before she reached his wrist. Inuyasha barely moved to show that he felt anything. That must have been what some of the leaves were for. I hoped that she had placed some of that in what she had me drink as she now moved to my arm with the same bloody knife.

I did flinch, but it wasn't as bad as it should have been. Even though I felt it as I watched her cut down my arm, it kinda felt like it was happening to someone else. I then watched as both our blood collected, pooled and then mixed naturally in the bottom of the bowl. As my pinky finger started to become completely covered in the red liquid, I saw a cup as it was tilted into the blood and mixed it a little before some was scooped up. It was given to me to drink, and with knowing that I had to, I took it from her and quickly drank it all before handing it back to her. My stomach didn't heave. I expected that to happen for the first three or so times I had drink the blood, but I didn't.

I watched as Inuyasha took his first drink and for a moment it reminded me of when he ate his raw meat in our room. I didn't mind, but I knew that it was only because I saw a little of our blood as it dripped down his chin. I was then given a my next cup and I drank it, before it was given back to Inuyasha. When I couldn't see our fingers anymore, our cuts were splashed with the blood and bit by bit I watched and they closed themselves. We were then given the cups of blood to drink again. All this time the priest had continued to chant above us.

I don't know how long we continued to do that, but before we were done my head started to hurt. My eyes were itchy and there was this odd fuzziness around everyone and everything. I rubbed them a number of times but it didn't help. I closed my eyes to see if that would help with the head ache, that seemed to getting worst and it seemed to helped a little. By the time I heard the cup as it scrapped the bottom of the metal bowl, I was beyond grateful. I needed to lie down.

**# ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ # ^ #**

**Gata** - are a form of traditional Chinese footwear also adopted by Japan that resemble both clogs and flip-flops. They are a kind of sandal with an elevated wooden base held onto the foot with a fabric thong to keep the foot well above the ground.

**Haori** - Short jacket


	91. Chapter 91 The End

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Chapter 91

"AH!" was exclaimed by every human and one or two of the demons gathered in the temple as Miroku collapsed in front of them.

"Miroku!" Inuyasha called out as he reached for Miroku and also collapsed in mid movement, falling into the bowl between them. As his consciousness faded, his fingers could still be seen trying to reach for his new mate. Masami laid both males down before she called for the four guards that had been standing around the platform all this time.

Kagome and Sango both started to stand, but their mates-to-be but kept them seated. They then explained, in their own way, that this was normal.

"Calm your fears," the priest now told everyone as he raised his hands for silence. "They have given up their rights to be individuals and therefore have split and shared their souls and years of their lives with each other," he continued as everyone gathered there watched as their young lord and his mate were taken off the stage and out the room through a door that was hidden by the platform.

"When we see our young lords again, in two days, they will be fully mated with each other. They will display their marks and Miroku-sama will be an Inu yōkai like his mate Inuyasha-sam," he explained to everyone. "In two days time we we meet here again and I will present to you the mated pair or Inuyasha-sama and Miroku-sama, as marked Inu yōkai," he ended. As he bowed he was the only one left on the stage.

Masami was gone. The two girls were gone. The bowl, the knife and the cushions were gone. Inuyasha and Miroku were gone.

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Miroku held on to me a bit tighter which brought me slightly out of my sleep just long enough to kiss his forehead before going back to sleep again. I faded back into my comfortable dream that I was having. I don't remember what it was, but I do remember that I liked it and sleeping came so easily to me when Miroku was next to me.

I was warm and comfortable and I thought of our mating day. _What will Miroku look like? _I asked myself before I saw him standing, then walking towards me in something that wasn't a montsuki. _He's going to love my commitment speech, _I told myself again. I had just gotten it right last night. And just in time too. We... I stopped trying to fall asleep.

_What day was it? _I asked myself as I opened my eyes. I looked around and realized that we weren't in our own room. One wall was made of stone and the others were made of wood with big thick wooden posts in the middle of them and in the corners. Almost everything was red. _We were at the temple. The temple? _I tried to remember. _We had been mated. We did say our commitment speeches. Miroku's was great. _I turned to look down at him and froze.

_Miroku's hair is white_. Like mine and Sesshomaru's, but it wasn't that long. It was the same length that his hair was before, when it was black. I swallowed a few times after being thrown by seeing him like this. I was about to reach out and touch it to see if felt like mine when he nuzzled me again and I saw something new. _His ears._ They were like mine too.

I watched this white, fuzzy, hair covered, triangle shaped ear as it twitched before slowly laying back against his hair. I couldn't stop from continuing to look at it. It was something that I had seen every time I looked into a mirror, or a stream or felt when I scratched my ears or combed my fingers through my hair, but it was so odd to look at it this way. Knowing that it looked just like mine, but wasn't mine.

I continued to watch as it flicked slightly again. I now understood why everyone had to look at and touch my ears when they see them. At least for the first time. I reached out my own hand now and traced the edges up to the point, and then back down the other side. I barely touched them since I didn't want to wake him up. I wanted to watch him sleep.

I moved some of his hair aside and saw that his skin was just slightly paler than it had gotten over the last few months. He had lost his tan months ago, so now that his skin colour was closer to mine, Sesshomaru, and his okasan, it wasn't that big of change to see, but it was still something new that I had to to touch. Miroku's skin felt a little warmer, but I realized almost right away that it would be now. It felt a little softer too, but stronger at the same time.

I passed my thumb over his lips and I felt his new sharp fangs as they were pressed through. I smiled as moved over his lips again, but this time with a much softer touch. The flicking of his new ears caught my attention again. I smiled wider as I watched them move trying to find the sound that he heard and was trying to understand.

"AH!" I shouted as something, that didn't feel like a hand, moved over my ass.

"What?" Miroku shouted as he quickly sat up and looked around before looking at me. I looked at it in stunned surprise. I didn't expect this. How was I suppose to expect this? "What is wrong?" he asked me again with far less sleep in his voice.

I raised my hand and pointed. And I continued to point until he turned his head to see what I saw.

"I have a tail?"

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_Will they be able to talk to each other like this? _I asked him before I raised my hand to cover my mouth as I yawned.

_I don't know, _Sesshomaru answered as I felt him hold me a little tighter. _Before we mark our mates-to-be, we can only talk to our parents this way. If Inuyasha was able to do it with his okasan, or haha-ue, then he would be able to with Miroku, _he answered me.

I nodded my understanding and wondered if they had already marked each other and knew the answer to this question already. I then listened to his inner thoughts as they moved through his mind for consideration. Most of it had to do with our mating and how I would react to the turning.

We both knew that my turning might not go that easily for a number of reasons. I was female for one. I had more complected parts to change. Two, he was a full Inu yōkai which just compounded my problem. At least it didn't look like my miko abilities will fight the process and kill me.

_Our problem and it won't be a problem, _Sesshomaru assures me.

"Mmm," I agree with him out loud before I really try to go to sleep. There was no point in worrying about something I didn't have to worry about. At least not for another three years. Well, it will be two soon.

_When is your birth date? _Sesshomaru asks me as my mind started to go blank with sleep.

_June ninth, _I tell him as I started to slip away. The last thing I registered before sleep claimed me was the feel of Sesshomaru's lips on my forehead.

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The examination went well. They both appeared to have come though the turning with no ill effects. Inuyasah-sama seemed unchanged by the event and back to his normal self. Miroku-sama's examination took a bit longer. His body took very well to the changes and has been on the mend, so to speak, for over a day now.

In the middle of the night, it was shouting from Inuyasha-sama that alerted me to the fact that they were now awake since they collapsed seven hours earlier. As interested as they both were in Miroku-sama's Mokomoko, Miroku-sama first wanted to know why everything he saw had a white light around it. I explained that all demons saw the world this way.

I then moved on to checking his memory, senses, and balance. Once we were finished and I still had him standing, I turned my attention to his Mokomoko. I tried not to handle it too much since he felt everything I did to it in a heightened way until he was use to having it.

I told them that it meant the same thing that Sesshomaru-sama's did. Miroku-sama was the first born of his father. As to how his body knew that the was the first born, I couldn't answer. There were somethings that we healers just didn't know.

As I let him sit again and Inuyasha-sama sat down at his side, there was a knock at the door. It was the servant that I had sent to get some food for them along with some cuts of raw meat for them to eat. Since they had missed the evening meal and the change that their bodies had gone though, I thought it would be needed and wanted.

I moved back against the wall and watched them as they ate to see if they had any issues there. Miroku-sama took Inuyasha-sama's lead when it came to the raw meat by eating it last. Inuyasha-sama was almost done with his serving, when Miroku-sama picked up one very red slice with his chopsticks. He looked at it for a moment before he smelled it. It didn't seem to offend him since he quickly ate it afterwards.

Inuyasha-sama and I watched as he ate his share at the same pace he ate his other food. As he swallowed the last bits of it, I asked them how they were feeling. They both said that they felt fine and thanked me for the meal. Miroku-sama then asked what day it was. I informed them that it was the night of their mating day and that they would still have two more days to mark each other.

This is when Inuyasha-sama asked how they were suppose to do it. I explained that it would have to be a mark that was placed somewhere on the other person's neck. They would have to concentrate on making a mate's mark so their fangs will make the acid that would make the mark last, and that it helped to hold on for as long as possible.

I then told them good night and left. Now it was the night before they had to be presented to their guests and they had yet to mark each other. I looked at the tray that I was carrying as it held two empty and bloody plates. I hoped that the snack helped. As I walked back to the kitchen, I told myself that they still had enough time. They may have to show off their marks tomorrow, but not until late in the afternoon, at the same time they were mated two days earlier.

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"Inuyasha," I moaned as I held the back of his head as he kissed his way down my neck. We had made love three times since we woke up after our mating in the temple in front of everyone, but weren't able to mark each other yet. I'm hoping that this time we get it right. I shook a little as I practiced moving my Mokomoko, my tail, through and around Inuyasha's legs.

I felt everything so much more now, but this was a whole new thing to feel Inuyasha's skin with the hairs that were on my Mokomoko. Every time I thought of it I couldn't help but picture the only other one that I knew of. But I won't think of him now. I had Inuyasha. _My Inuyasha. _

"Aahh," I moaned slightly as I felt him bitting into one of my nipples that he had just been licking. I held on a little more to the back of head, before easing my body and mind into the lingering feeling. My hand eased it's hold and moved over to one of his ears. I felt the soft, warm skin lightly to make sure that I didn't nick them with my new longer nails. I used the pad of my thumb to slowly slide around the inside, where he could feel it more. "Aahhh..." I moaned in a tapered away as his nails slowly dug into me. His bite turned into a sucking motion, that I think was just a long intake of his breath when he went back to licking and placing small bites on my skin. His grip went back to something that wasn't trying to draw blood as he moved them down from my hips to hold my ass and pull me forcefully closer to him.

I tightened my legs around his waist as I rotated my groin into his and soon he was doing the same. We were hard and getting slipperier with every pass we made over each other. My mind was bathed in the new sensations that I was able to feel and now drown in. _No! Stop! _I shouted at myself.

My arms pushed Inuyasha away from my instantly while my leg took a bit longer to react to my command.

"What's wrong?" Inuyasha asked me as he tried to get closer to me again. I waited until his eyes weren't tinted pink anymore. My own sight was almost back to normal also.

"Are you thinking of marking me?" I asked him before I relaxed my arms and let him kiss me. His eyes hadn't gone back to looking golden, I just couldn't stop myself from not wanting him to kiss me. I reached out my left hand and tried to reached for the jar that would make it easer for him to enter me.

We had tried it the other way, but I couldn't stop once we really got started and we both forgot about marking each other. This time I was going to remember.

"Use this," I told him when I pulled out of the kiss and directed his attention to the jar. I continued to hold jar as he took out some of it's contents and rubbed it in and around my entrance. "Aahh," I moaned as my head tilted back. I held the jar upright as I bent and twisted my body. When I didn't feel his fingers on me, I felt it in the jar as he took out some more. I heard him moan, and I now really knew what he felt.

Before, I just assumed that he felt the same thing that I did. But now I knew that it was so much more. I lifted my head and saw as he took his hand off of his greased manhood and took the jar from me. At this point we were back to where we were when I stopped the kiss, but I still held it in my head.

_Mate's Mark. Mate's Mark. Don't forget, _I continued to chant in my head as I closed my eyes and felt Inuyasha as he placed the tip of himself at my ready opening. Once he had the head in, he let go of himself and held my legs up and back as he started to fully push into me.

I saw colours as he stretched me open and I felt like it was my first time all back over again. Half of this feeling was pleasure while the rest of it was pain. As Inuyasha seated himself well into me, I started to chant again. _Mate's Mark. Mate's Mark. _When I felt his lips on mine I reached out and held held him to me and the words got quieter.

I felt the muscles in Inuyasha's arms as he hooked them under my thighs as he started to pull back. He came all the way out of me before he pushed back in, at the same slow speed as his lips hovered over mine. I heard and felt him growl, before I shook and whimpered under him. The first time I did that I was embarrassed enough to actually stop what we were doing, but this felt too good to stop.

There was a whisper of a word in my head as he started to pull out. _mark. _As he came back in faster this time I remembered and heard the other word much louder. _Mate. _Yes I had to remember. _Inuyasha, my mate had to mark me. I had to mark him. _I heard Inuyasha's heavy breathing, along with my own as I started to push back against him.

_I have to mark my mate,_ started to go through my head. My breathing started to speed up with each thrust I received and gave. Inuyasha was matching me as he tried to constantly hit that spot in me. I held on to his shoulder and soon I was smelling blood and the words got louder. _I have to mark my mate. I have to mark my mate. _

I was so close to coming now. My gut couldn't hold anymore. I was on the verge of spilling when I opened my eyes and looked up at the celling, that now looked very red, as if doing this would let it out of me some how, so it wouldn't end. When I heard the words inside my head with my ears, I realize that I had been saying them out loud.

I stopped and swallowed, but didn't think twice of going back to saying something. Now that I knew that he heard me before, I changed it to something that would help him and remind me.

"Mark me Inuyasha. Mark me," I told him over and over as he continued to fuck me. At moments I had to stop to moan out loud or lick my lips. I think my words excited him because he started to thrust into me faster and without aiming like he was doing before.

I was about to come and couldn't say it anymore, but it was still in my head. I realized that Inuyasha was a little quieter than he was a few moments ago. He was still breathing hard, and I heard him breathing just as quickly and just as hard as he was before I knew I was saying anything out loud. Then there was the start of a growl. It was low in his chest. It built and built and as I opened my mouth to tell him to mark me or that I was coming, or both, I felt the pain.

I felt my eyes as they rolled back into my head. His fangs burned. They went deep. I watched my world as it went blood red, and then black.

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Everyone sat or stood, where they had been two days ago, as they waited for the Inuyasha and Miroku to show up. Murmuring started at the back row and worked itself forward as each row heard the commotion behind them, turned to see what it was, and then did their own whispering. By the time that the murmuring was ready to cross over into the noble's area, they remained silence. They did turn, and look. And they watched Inuyasha and Miroku, as they walked side by side up the isle.

"They're wearing girls' kimonos," Rin said loud enough for all the demons to hear her if they wanted to. No one corrected her as they watched them make their way back up unto the stage in front of them. They were wearing gata's again, and what Rin called a girl's kimono, was another specially made garment which was just an altered male kimono that had a widened neck area.

It was white in colour with an thin obi that was red in the middle but then became red cherry blossoms on a white background as it left the knot at their side. Sesshomaru, along with everyone else, didn't miss the fact that Miroku now had a Mokomoko and wore it the only way he knew how. Over his shoulder.

Inuyasha and Miroku placed themselves on either side of the priest that was there waiting for them, and sat down on the cushions that were before them. The priest then knelt down on his own and took their hands and laid Inuyasha's over Miroku's before he closed his eyes and said a blessing out loud that only said in a language that the humans, as well as Miroku and Inuyasha didn't understand. When he was done, he stood and they stood with him.

"I present to you your newly mated Lords. Inuyasha-sama and Miroku-sama. Together they are, and together they will stay until their last day on this earth," he said in a clear loud voice which was quickly followed by cheers from the standing crowd in the back of the temple before the heads of the noble houses and their companions stood and clapped to honor the newly mated couple.

Miroku and Inuyasha looked around and smiled at everyone as they held hands and basked in the approval of their union.

"Inuyasha. Miroku. This way," was heard from their right. As they both looked in Kagome's direction there was a flash of light that left everyone in the temple quite and stunned.

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**Miko** - literally "shaman woman". Currently (in this day & age) means a "shrine maiden; virgin consecrated to a deity" who serves at Shinto shrines.

***Note** - I know. Kagome's birthday is in September at the start of the school year, but it's the end of winter now. So I changed her birthday to fit the story. And it kinda works out. This means that she started to like Sesshomaru just after her 17th birthday.

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"Thank you" to everyone for reading and commenting on my story over all these years.

I have a list of all my OC's and what their names mean. If you would like to see it let me know and that will be my last post to this story. :)

Thank you again. :)


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